Article I only today came across.
well wishes,
Kate
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[This is the print version of story
http://www.abc.net.au/health/regions/features/physical/default.htm]

Let's Get Physical

by Cathy Johnson

Confused about how much exercise you really need (or rather, how
little you can get away with?) Health Matters sets the record straight.

Published 01/05/2003

Sure you know exercise is good for you, and you should probably
do more of it. But by the end of the day, you're exhausted, so you
figure you must be doing enough. And learning to live with a few
bulges here and there is a sign of a mature mind, right?

Hmmm. Maybe. But chances are, not. Research shows around half of
us simply aren't getting enough activity to meet even the minimum
targets needed for good health.

And there's more than your body image at stake. For one thing,
weight gain can creep up on you and cause obesity, which has a range
of associated health problems. But whether you're within the normal
weight range or not, simply being inactive poses serious health risks
on its own.

So how much exercise should you do?

The minimum recommended for good health is 30 minutes of
'moderate' activity, five (or preferably, seven) days a week,
according to Australia's National Physical Activity Guidelines (pdf
document), established in 1999. Moderate intensity is defined as a
level that causes a "slight but noticeable increase in breathing and
heart rate".

Brisk walking is recommended because it's cheap, needs no fancy
equipment apart from supportive shoes, and is less daunting for those
used to doing nothing at all. A kilometre in 15 minutes is a good
guide. But you can also mow the lawn, vacuum, dig in the garden, swim
or cycle – as long as your breathing and heart rate are sufficiently
raised. If you can talk but not sing, you've got the pace about right.

And you don't have to do it all in one go. Three 10-minute bouts
spread throughout the day is fine, but anything shorter probably
doesn't pack enough punch.

If you can pull this off, you reduce your odds of coronary artery
disease – the fatty buildups in blood vessels which are a key risk
factor for heart attacks – by a massive 40 per cent, says Professor
Adrian Bauman, public health expert and epidemiologist from the
University of New South Wales. You also take a significant step
towards warding off diabetes, stroke and probably mental health
problems like depression.



Preventing weight gain

But half an hour a day doesn't protect you from all ills. Based
on what most of us are eating, it isn't enough to avoid weight gain,
for example. A recent report from the United States Institute of
Medicine suggests for that, we need more like double the amount – 60
minutes moderate activity, every day of the week. (Or as much as 90
minutes, some experts say, if you don't move around much throughout
the day).

Whether overweight or not, clock up the 60 minutes or more a day,
and it seems you also help protect yourself against bowel cancer, plus
breast cancer if you are a woman or prostate cancer if you are a man.
And you halve your risk of coronary artery disease.

If you're pressed for time, you can achieve the same outcome more
quickly by ramping up the pace. So a vigorous 20 to 30-minute jog will
have the same effect as an hour-long brisk walk.

You don't need to exercise vigorously to protect against cancer
or to lose weight; moderate intensity is fine, provided you do enough
of it. But if it's fitness you're after – that is, improved efficiency
of your heart, lungs and major muscles – you don't have a choice. Huff
and puff is the only way to go, says Professor Wendy Brown, from
Queensland University's School of Human Movement Studies.

"Fitness demands intensity," she says. "You've really got to make
your heart and lungs work overtime."


The guidelines (in brief)

1. Think of movement as an opportunity, not an inconvenience.

2. Be active every day in as many ways as you can.

3. Put together at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity
physical activity on most, preferably all, days.

4. If you can, also enjoy some regular vigorous exercise for
extra health and fitness.

Source: National Physical Activity Guidelines for Australians
(pdf document), Australian Department of Health and Ageing.


The bottom line

Feeling queasy at the thought? Don't despair. The number-one
killer in Australia is heart disease. And if you focus on that, the
biggest "bang for your bucks" comes when you switch from doing
virtually nothing to meeting the minimum target of 30 minutes a day
(your heart disease risk drops by 40 per cent, remember). Doubling
your activity to an hour earns you a further drop of just 10 per cent.

That's why the physical activity guidelines in Australia focus on
30 minutes a day, suggesting you add an extra 20 to 30 minutes of
vigorous activity three to four days a week, "if you can".

The guidelines tread gently because nearly half of all
Australians can't manage to reach even the 30-minute target, and
national physical activity levels actually went backwards between 1997
and 2000.

"We're becoming inactive faster than any other country," says
Professor Bauman. Lack of time is the most common excuse. But given
that we watch an average of more than two hours television a day, he
finds that a bit hard to swallow.


Don't kid yourself

There is some evidence rural residents, especially women, are
more active than their city counterparts. But wherever we live, it
seems there's a tendency to think we're more active than we really are.

Tanja McLeish, a lifestyle educator in regional New South Wales,
says many men on the land think they "exercise all day in the
paddock". When pressed however, they reveal they "sat in the hot sun,
driving a tractor" – clearly mistaking their exhaustion for exertion.

Farmers aren't the only ones deluding themselves, according to
Wendy Brown. She says a really good way to put your perceptions to the
test is to wear a pedometer – a gadget you can buy from an electronics
shop for around $40. It clips onto your waistband and registers the
number of steps you take. To meet the equivalent of the 30-minute
target, you need to take about 10,000 steps a day. While the pace of
your steps is relevant, if you're ambling, you're not going to reach
the 10,000-step-a-day goal.

"People think they do it," Professor Brown says. "They say:
"We're on our feet all day!" But they're not. Some people, maybe
nurses or teachers, might clock up enough. But it's a real challenge
for most people to get to 10,000 steps a day. It's not easy."

If you drive to work and sit at a desk all day, you're probably
only doing 4,000 steps. Extra efforts, like walking to a shop that's
further away or taking the stairs instead of the lift, probably only
clock up an additional 3,000 or so.

"Most of us find to get that last 3,000 steps, you really have to
do that 30-minute walk."

The Rockhampton project

If you think it sounds weird to wear a pedometer all day, be
warned. In a pilot study in which pedometers (and a host of other
measures) are being used to encourage people to move about more,
Professor Brown has found the devices become surprisingly popular.

"There are people who get absolutely addicted to them," she says.
"They'll get together and say: "How many steps have you done today
then?" and "Gosh! How are you managing to do that?""

Known as 10,000 steps, a study in the regional city of
Rockhampton, Queensland, aims to test the combined effects of a range
of interventions aimed at getting people to move around more (with
10,000 steps a day as their target).

We know that certain strategies – a word from your GP, better
footpaths, no stray dogs, for example – help encourage activity. But
what happens when you put all the different measures together has not
been tested before. If the researchers can prove (and quantify) the
effects, they hope to persuade governments it's worth investing in.

Professor Brown hopes the small-scale attempt might eventually
take on bigger proportions: "My dream is to roll it out nationally –
to have all Australians doing 10,000 steps a day."


Movement motivators

* Hate running? Then walk instead. For a given distance,
running (but not sprinting) uses roughly the same energy as walking,
it just takes less time. There's less risk of injury when you walk, too.
* Overweight and sick of your slightly-less-beefy friends'
gloating? Have the last laugh. Your heavier body requires more energy
to move. So, for a given stint of walking (all other things being
equal), you'll burn more energy than them.
* Exercise packs a double whammy. It doesn't just burn energy
while you're doing it. Your metabolism will be boosted for hours
afterwards – a real bonus in keeping your weight under control.
* In terms of heart disease risk, it's better to be active
and overweight than lean and inactive



Whatever you do, try and make it regular, is Professor Bauman's
advice. Daily or every second day is best because some of the
protective effects against coronary artery disease and diabetes relate
to bodily changes that are short-term.

"Once a week, even if it's a vigorous game of tennis, does not
confer a benefit [in terms of a protective effect against heart
disease and diabetes]," he says.

But in other ways, it's still the case that every little bit of
movement helps.

"I'm almost convinced from the general trend of research that
anything is better than nothing," he says. "Even if you're walking to
the fridge 100 times a day. As long as you don't open it, you're doing
yourself good."

More info

* Health Library: Obesity
Stories and transcripts from across the ABC, plus a fact file.

* Health Library: Heart disease
Stories and transcripts from across the ABC, plus a fact file.

* Fighting fat kids: Fat chance?
Health Matters feature 27/03/2003
We need more than lite ice-cream to help children fight the
battle of the bulge. Experts are calling for a revolution in
everything from sports funding to urban design.

* Exercise and benefit to the heart Health Report 11/11/2002
How vigorous does exercise have to be for cardiovascular
protection?

* 10,000 Steps
Rockhampton's tips to increase activity

* National Heart Foundation of Australia Physical Activity Policy
Includes definitions of 'moderate' and 'vigorous' activity.



Last modified 01/05/2003


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