Exercise: The New Vital Sign
Karen Baker, BSc, DC
It is becoming more and more apparent in healthcare that we need to increase efforts around encouraging healthy lifestyle choices, correcting sedentary behaviour and creating a cultural shift towards physical activity. The dominant lifestyle of fast food and sedentary behaviour reflect the post-industrialized and technology driven age we live in, but the consequences are disastrous!
From the increasing amount of research being done in the industry, we know that regular aerobic exercises can have significant benefits in decreasing the risk of heart disease, diabetes and some cancers. It is also known to decrease disability associated with knee osteoarthritis, decrease the progression of dementia, delay cognitive decline, reduce anxiety and depression and is considered the best treatment for fatigue. Not surprisingly, regular exercise consistently improves quality of life.
A long term Cochrane Collaboration study, looked at outcomes over a 20 year period. Low fitness status was found to be more risky than smoking, diabetes and obesity combined. It was found, low cardio-respiratory fitness was found to be the most significant factor with respect to development of cardiovascular disease above all others.
Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines state that adults need to be getting 150 minutes of aerobic activity per week. To meet this target we need to be doing about 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity five times a week. Keep in mind that it is well established that more exercise will lead to further health benefits. Also, those 30 minutes can be broken up into smaller bouts of exercise and accumulate through the day. A recent initiative by the Canadian Chiropractic Association called Fit-in-15 (www.fitin15.ca) encourages people to get moving any way they can, in small doses.
Another national initiative, Exercise is Medicine Canada, guided by a task force of allied health professionals, aims to provide leadership in promoting physical activity as a chronic disease prevention and management strategy to improve the overall health of Canadians.
What is your Physical Activity Vital Sign? PA = X mins x 5 days = 5X mins/wk (Guideline: minimum 150 minutes/week). So, let’s get moving... It’s vital!
