AN IMPORTANT SUMMARY OF THE HEALTH and FITNESS BENEFITS of WEEKLY PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

A Summary of the Recommendation and Benefits of Exercise Training, and the risk factors associated with Physical Inactivity.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) Global Recommendatios on Physical Activity for Health 2010, and what health conditions are they applicable to??

1. Adults aged 18–64 should do at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity
throughout the week or do at least 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity
throughout the week or an equivalent combination of moderate- and vigorous-intensity activity.
2. Aerobic activity should be performed in bouts of at least 10 minutes duration.
3. For additional health benefits, adults should increase their moderate-intensity aerobic physical
activity to 300 minutes per week, or engage in 150 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical
activity per week, or an equivalent combination of moderate- and vigorous-intensity activity.
4. Muscle-strengthening activities should be done involving major muscle groups on 2 or more days
a week.

***These recommendations are based on world-wide health and fitness studies of 10’s of thousands of people of all adult age groups, WITH and WITHOUT NCDs (NCDs are; Non-communicable diseases, such as strokes, most heart diseases, most cancers, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, osteoarthritis, and osteoporosis to name the majority).

***In Ireland we’ve all come across too many friends and relatives over 40 years of age (and more recently there are more 30 plus year olds) with NCDc.

The latest predictions from the ‘Health Informatics Society of Ireland’ are as follows:

[“Figures from the World Health Organisation (WHO) suggest that Ireland is set to become home to the most overweight population in Europe by the year 2030.

An expert on obesity has said the Healthy Ireland framework needs to be aggressively rolled out to address the obesity crisis in Ireland.

Professor Donal O’Shea, Head of Weight Management Service in St Columcille’s and St Vincent’s hospitals, said this report has to be seen as a tipping point and actions are needed now to reverse the trend. He said the Healthy Ireland 2013-2025 plan is the only way forward but if action is not taken, it’s just another document sitting on a shelf.

89% of Irish men are set to be overweight, while obesity rates for women are set to soar from 23% to 57%.

The as-yet unpublished WHO figures suggest Europe is heading for an unprecedented explosion in rates of obesity and excess weight, with Ireland the worst-affected].

“Overweight” is clinically defined by a Body Mass Index (a measure relating to height and weight) of 25 to 29.9%, and “obese” by a BMI of 30% and above, the “overweight” category also included anyone who was obese.

***So lets get back to the WHO GLOBAL RECOMMENDATIONS ON PHYSICAL ACTIVITY FOR HEALTH 2010 and, excluding fit and healthy people who exercise weekly, WHO ARE THE RECOMMENDATIONS APPLICABLE TO??

***The exercise recommendations listed above are applicable to the following health conditions: Cardiorespiratory Health (coronary heart disease, cardiovascular disease, stroke, and hypertension): Metabolic Health (diabetes and obesity): Bone Health and Osteoperosis; Brest and Colon Cancer and Depression, (WHO 2010).

SUMMARY

If you’d like to increase the probability of living a little longer, have less annual visits to your GP, require less scans, be prescribed less medication, reduce missed work days, and contribute less to the cost to the annual, (and rising) national Health Budget (In 2010 it was 13.3 billion, and in 2018 it was over 17 billion euro) then you need to follow the above WHO Global Recommendation on Physical Activity for Health.

Best of Luck.