Time to Challenge Public Health Guidelines on Physical Activity
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CURRENT OPINION
Time to Challenge Public Health Guidelines on Physical Activity Philipe de Souto Barreto1,2,3
Ó Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015
Abstract There is striking evidence in support of physical activity (PA) as a very strong factor in health promotion and disease prevention. Since the mid-1990s, public health guidelines on PA have established PA recommendations to promote health and prevent several non-communicable diseases (NCDs). However, it is not clear that there is universal agreement on the validity of all aspects of these recommendations. Indeed, a growing body of evidence has accumulated over the last 20 years showing that less than 150 min/week of moderate PA, i.e. the minimum PA level currently recommended, promotes health and prevents NCDs. Moreover, when determining whether someone achieves the minimum PA recommendations, the quantities of PA undertaken are added together regardless of what domain of PA they represent, i.e. leisure-time, occupational, transport or housework. However, while convincing evidence exists to show that leisure-time and transport PA are important factors for promoting health, the evidence for occupational PA and housework is mixed. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to discuss two major issues relating to public health guidelines on PA for adults and older adults: the minimum volumes of PA required and the importance of PA domains in health promotion. A proposal
& Philipe de Souto Barreto [email protected] 1
Gerontopole of Toulouse, Institute of Ageing, University Hospital of Toulouse (CHU-Toulouse), 37, Alle´es Jules Guesde, 31000 Toulouse, France
2
UMR INSERM 1027, University of Toulouse III, Toulouse, France
3
CNRS UMR 7268 Biocultural Anthropology, Law, Ethics and Health, Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France
on how to tackle these issues and ultimately strengthen PA recommendations is also presented.
Key Points The main pillars of public health guidelines on physical activity (PA) were established 20 years ago. The minimum amount of PA required to promote health was established through experts’ critical reviews (qualitative analysis). Quantitative analysis is indispensable to establish precisely the minimum amounts of PA as well as to determine the importance of PA domains on health promotion.
1 Introduction Physical activity (PA) is a very strong factor in health promotion and disease prevention. There is now striking evidence showing the benefits of overall PA for health; physical inactivity is the fourth leading risk factor for global mortality [1], with almost 3.2 million deaths being attributed to it [2]. A physically inactive lifestyle is the tenth main cause of disability-adjusted life years [2] and is associated with the burden of several non-communicable diseases (NCDs), particularly cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, some types of cancer [3, 4], and even Alzheimer’s disease [5]. Guidelines on PA and exercise have been published since the mid-60s [6] by health authorities, such as the American Colleg
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