Prescribing exercise for improved health and well-being
There appears to be a linear relationship between physical activity and health status: up to a point, the more exercise you do, the healthier you are. There is evidence that exercise prevents and slows the progression of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, certain cancers, osteoporosis, depression, and dementia. And yet, 60% of Americans are inactive.
The American College of Sports Medicine Exercise (ACSM) and the American Medical Association (AMA) have joined efforts to encourage physicians to provide the exercise stimulus to their patients and to talk with patients about their exercise program at every comprehensive visit. Doctors are quick to accept research data about drugs and other restorative procedures while ignoring the benefits of exercise for improved health.
There’s no question. Exercise can prevent and cure many chronic conditions, doing in 30 minutes per day what dozens of prescription drugs try to do, without potentially harmful side effects.
About the Author
Peggy Kraus is a clinical exercise physiologist at Southampton Hospital in New York. She received her Masters degree in Professional Physical Education from New York University and after many years in commercial and corporate fitness settings has been in the cardiac and pulmonary rehab setting now for 10 years. Her job duties include educating rehab patients about the link between exercise, nutrition, and good health. Peggy has been published in IDEA’s Fitness Journal and in AFAA’s American Fitness, and her continuing education course, Atherosclerosis: Causes, Consequences, and Treatments, is offered in CEU4U’s nursing course catalog.
