When I discuss with my patients about exercise, I normally advise them to do the really helpful amount: 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity per week. But three papers I read this week are making me rethink that strategy.
Two papers were published this week. BMJ Challenge my emphasis on the 150-minute-a-week goal. An American and Australian team That goal has been questioned for older adults, a lot of whom find it difficult to get enough exercise. A French researcher identified that while the suggestion was sound, it's just as vital to encourage individuals who don't exercise in any respect to not less than do a bit.
Both BMJ papers describe exercise as a spectrum, with no activity at one end and 150 minutes or more per week at the opposite. There is a continuum in between. Getting individuals to maneuver along this continuum, with little to no exercise, little to more, and so forth, is a vital goal – one which I plan to pursue.
My latest method
On the exercise front, I keep asking my patients “Are you physically active?” and “How much time do you devote to exercise each week?” For those that aren’t lively, as a substitute of aiming for 150 minutes per week, I might recommend just a number of minutes of exercise a day. Over time, I might encourage them to extend this time by a number of minutes a day.
I also want my patients to give it some thought, and calculate how much time they spend sitting. One strategy to do that is:
- Write the time you get off the bed and write “UP” next to the time.
- Every moment through the day you sit or lie down, write down the time and write “down” next to it.
- Each time you stand up, rewrite the time and write “UP” next to it.
- Add all of the minutes between each “UP” time and “DOWN” time. This is the same as the overall variety of minutes you spend doing “light activity” for the day.
- Do this on two different days – at some point at work or school, and at some point at home.
You may also time your “UP” minutes using a stopwatch or the stopwatch function on a smartphone.
Instead of aiming for a particular goal, try progressively increasing the variety of minutes you're “UP” every day over the subsequent several weeks.
Getting more exercise—even for those who don't hit your goal of 150 minutes or more per week—and sitting less is plan for higher health.