In the last several years, there have been some
pioneering exercise and wellness professionals
dedicated to inspiring the medical profession to more
seriously recognize the long known benefits of
exercise for general health, prevention of ailments,
and even the treatment of disease. While many
doctors have begun mentioning the benefits of regular
physical activity to their patients, a greater emphasis
should be placed on the vast body of knowledge we
have on the benefits of exercise.
Along these lines, I wanted to share with you an article
from June 16, 2007 published in the Washington
Post. It is called 'Rx: Exercise' and reads as
follows:
"Walk two miles and call me in the morning."
That's the kind of prescription doctors could soon
write if the new leaders of two major medical groups
get their way.
"We're trying to get every physician to prescribe
exercise at every visit," says Robert Sallis, a California
physician who recently became president of the
American College of Sports Medicine.
Physicians "have a moral responsibility to inform
patients of the danger of inactivity and the health
benefits of being more active," Sallis says.
"We are in lock step with them on that concept," says
incoming AMA president Ronald M. Davis, who is also
the director of the Henry Ford Health System's Center
for Disease Prevention and Health Promotion in
Detroit. "We need to get doctors to prescribe exercise
more, and we need to get patients to follow that
advice."
More than half of Americans fail to get the 30 minutes
of physical activity recommended daily to provide
health benefits, according to the federal Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention. Cars, elevators,
remote controls and other modern devices all help to
engineer physical activity out of daily life. Extended
work days and long commutes add to the problem.
So many people are inactive that some experts have
coined a new term for the epidemic: sedentary death
syndrome. The condition helps cut short an estimated
250,000 lives in the United States annually, according
to Frank Booth, professor of physiology at the
University of Missouri. Research suggests that people
who are sedentary spend on average about $1,500
more annually on medical bills than do their more-
active counterparts.
"There are also studies to show that they miss more
work and are not as productive," Sallis notes.
Research also shows that regular physical activity
improves health by cutting the risk of heart disease,
stroke, colon cancer, diabetes and high blood
pressure. Even bouts of activity as short as 10
minutes at a time can help control weight and relieve
arthritis, anxiety and depression.
"Exercise is medicine," Sallis says. "We know that it
works very well. We just don't have the proper way to
administer it."
That's where the doctors come in. Sallis is leading the
charge to get doctors and other health professionals
to ask every patient about his or her exercise habits at
every office visit.
"We know all the benefits of exercise and that it has
very few side effects," he says. "We know that even the
sickest patients in the hospital get out quicker if they
get out of bed and walk during their hospital stay.
There's no doubt that with any disease, exercise
benefits it."
In California, the Governor's Council on Physical
Fitness and Sports recently launched an initiative to
give doctors forms that resemble a standard pad of
prescriptions; instead of specifying medication, they
recommend activity.
"Fitness is the greatest drug in the world," says Jake
Steinfeld, chairman of the California council. "It's
addictive. . . . Why wouldn't doctors want to do this?
There's no extra work and, as a matter of fact, it's
another service that the doctor is providing for their
patients. A doctor has the ability and power to help
make that change."
It isn't just activity that doctors are being asked to
encourage. Harvard Medical School and the Culinary
Institute of America recently teamed together to teach
physicians to cook more healthfully, too. The Healthy
Kitchens, Healthy Lives conference drew about 200
health professionals to California's Napa Valley to
learn how to cook whole grains, salads and healthier
desserts.
"Unless doctors, nurses and other health providers
live this way, it's hard for them to get patients to make
needed changes," says David Eisenberg, the
conference organizer.
But do patients follow through when doctors advise
them to exercise and eat right?
"That's the million-dollar question," Sallis says. The
studies that have been done show mixed results.
Enlisting physicians to coach patients to exercise and
eat right "is an important ingredient" in the effort to
improve behavior, says the AMA's Davis, "but there are
other things to keep in mind, too."
Unless they have a place to go where they can be
active, it's difficult "to get people to walk more, ride
bikes and play recreational sports," he says. "This
goes part and parcel with healthy eating as well. It's all
connected as a way to prevent or turn around our
obesity epidemic."
