Health Education: physical activity and disease prevention

Caring About Our Young Parents

I was working out in the gym (the student rec center) this morning while two young men (age 19-21) were talking.  Actually, one was just listening as the other went on for quite a while.  I believe that he was talking about his aunt, who he said was not even 50 yet (gasp).  Whoever she was, the young man was concerned about her weight - what she was eating and her lack of physical activity. It was not his Mom because later I heard him say that his mother had four or five siblings and she was the small one.  I think he said that she weighed about 110 pounds and he could toss her "over his shoulder."   He was about 6 foot or taller and muscular.  He also spoke with an accent, possibly eastern European.  I have worked out at the same time as he several times. Anyways... The young man was concerned that this person ate the wrong things or too many calories because I heard him say something about her eating a lot of bread and that if she just changed that it would make a big difference.  I also heard him tell his friend that he encourages this person to do more physical activity.  When there is some place to go, he tries to get her to walk.  Since she isn't exercising at all, he suggested she try swimming.   The woman he was referring to is not much older than me but appears to be my polar opposite.  I know that as children we sometimes worry about our parents when they get into their 70s and 80s, but this young man is much more intuitive and on target.  If his aunt is not taking care of herself in her forties, her likelihood of a long, healthy, active life is significantly compromised. I also wanted to take a moment to remind you that everyone, (exercisers and non-exercisers)  is at risk of metabolic changes (problems) when they spend uninterrupted hours sitting.  It is worse for non exercisers but bad for all persons. By exercise I mean - activity that is intended to increase the heart rate or respiration during the activity's duration.    Exercise as defined in the <a href="http://www.health.gov/paguidelines/guidelines/default.aspx#toc" target="_blank">Physical Activity Guidelines</a> for Americans document:. A subcategory of physical activity that is planned, structured, repetitive, and purposive in the sense that the improvement or maintenance of one or more components of physical fitness is the objective. "Exercise" and "exercise training" frequently are used interchangeably and generally refer to physical activity performed during leisure time with the primary purpose of improving or maintaining physical fitness, physical performance, or health.

Caring About Our Young Parents

I was working out in the gym (the student rec center) this morning while two young men (age 19-21) were talking. Actually, one was just lis...

7:58 PM

IDPA

Alrighty then. The question tonight is whether or not I should explain the research study or just cut to the chase. The conscientious part of me won't allow the bottom line without at least a little back ground, so here goes. I read a study from the American Journal of Epidemiology regarding whether or not Intense Domestic Physical Activity, or IDPA was protective against all cause mortality and or cardiovascular related events or death. CVD related events being a heart attack and CVD death being a fatal heart attack, etc. To the best of my knowledge, cerebral vascular events or disease is a sub category. This involves strokes. A CVD event could then be a heart attack or a stroke as well as a complication of congestive heart failure or angina. This is all involving blood vessels, arteries etc. The study I reviewed is from Scotland where they too have a prospective research study going on. Theirs is aptly titled, the Scottish Health Study. The research involved questionnaires, biometric measurements, and matching disease and death outcomes. I can tell you that the report that I read included details about the inclusion and exclusion of participants, the variables that were controlled for and the statistical analysis program that was used. The program was one that I had to learn about in Grad school. All this being said, I feel that the outcome or conclusion of the cross sectional survey of 1995, 1998 and 2003 is valid and worth highlighting. We have heard in the USA as they have heard in the UK, physical activity is important and can be health promoting and disease preventing. Some health pundits emphasize the benefits of every day activity and go as far as to imply that house hold chores can provide the same benefits as say brisk walking, running, step aerobics, sports and cycling. The scientists from several UK universities used the existing data to test that hypothesis. First you should know what they considered to be IDPA. Intense domestic activity includes walking or cycling as a means of transport, stair climbing as an activity of daily living, gardening and heavy housework like scrubbing floors and cleaning windows or do it yourself activities like gardening, raking, shoveling snow, digging, building, etc as compared to leisure time sports activities of cycling, swimming, aerobics, football, raquet ball, etc. The scientists looked at type as well as duration and frequency. The upshot is this: Being more physically active than other people is a good thing! The people who did any intense domestic activity weekly did have a lower rate of death from any cause. The IDPA did NOT protect against cardiovascular events or deaths however. It appears that the IDPA is not moderate to vigorous enough to improve heart function and cardiovascular health. The scientists think that many of the activities associated with domestics engages smaller muscles and does not significantly raise heart rate. Many of the activities are done in place for example. Still, they also saw a difference between walking to the store (not preventing heart disease) and walking at pace (is protective) for exercise. The take home message: Be as physically active as you can be and ALSO get some exercise - :) Here is a reference for the study: American Journal of Epidemiology 2009 169(10):1191-1200; doi:10.1093/aje/kwp042

IDPA

Alrighty then. The question tonight is whether or not I should explain the research study or just cut to the chase. The conscientious part...

5:08 PM

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Caring About Our Young Parents

IDPA

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