photo credit: john deere bke via photopin (license)
I participated in a webinar sponsored by the European Society of Lifestyle Medicine entitled,” Lifestyle Strategies for Obesity Prevention and Treatment.” There were featured experts in the field of obesity prevention from around the world discussing the latest data on what works and doesn’t work in the treatment of obesity.
The discussions focused on such topics including the energy equation (calories in vs. calories out), statistics on childhood obesity and behavioral aspects of diet and exercise. As someone who works with people who don’t like to exercise, I found the following concepts put forth by the researchers interesting:
- Instead of asking the question, “How do we eat less,” we really should be asking the question, “How do we move more.”
- The medical community and the media are asking people to do too much too soon.
- Walking is the most practical form of physical activity for those who don’t like to exercise.
- Coaching behavior change can be an effective method to improve exercise adoption and adherence.
- As people become more active, depression levels drop.
In discussing time with patients, it was surmised that physicians can use their limited time to address exercise by doing the following:
- Recommend exercise for the patient
- Provide an exercise prescription for the patient.
- Link the relationship between physical inactivity to health problems.
- If time permits, provide the patient with resources in the community to help them get more active as well as other resources to get the patient to think more about the possibility of getting more active.
What we know about increasing exercise behavior is that it takes thinking about getting more active before actually doing it. Physicians can help inactive people begin to explore the possibility of how physical activity can work for them.
May is Exercise is Medicine month. Ask your doctor about exercise; I doubt any would advise against it. As Bob Sallis, MD, states, “From a medical perspective, it makes no sense that we wouldn’t focus our efforts on trying to promote physical activity among our patients.” He has also stated that, “exercise should be thought of as a type of medication that is prescribed to patients.” To learn more about the value of exercise as medicine, watch this:
So there you have it. Doctors advocating exercise. Its time has come.