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Physical Activity for Healthy Adults: Counseling as a Primary Preventive Intervention in Clinical Settings

  • Chapter
Preventing Disease

Part of the book series: Frontiers of Primary Care ((PRIMARY))

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Abstract

The idea that regular physical activity may be necessary for optimal health is receiving increasing attention in the medical and lay literature. Physical activity has been linked to the prevention and control of major causes of death and disability, such as coronary heart disease (CHD), hypertension, non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, osteoporosis, obesity, and mental health problems. Since CHD is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States, the potential role of physical activity in preventing CHD in particular is of major public health importance. Only one fifth of the adult population is estimated to be physically active at the level thought to be required for cardiorespiratory benefit.1 In addition, evidence suggests that although there has been an increase in leisure-time physical activity by American adults during the 1970s and 1980s, the rate of increase has recently declined.2 What should be the role of primary care clinicians in encouraging physical activity in their patients?

Many North Americans lead sedentary lives. The authors of this chapter scrutinize the association between such habits and ill health. They also examine the obverse of the question, the scientific evidence that increased physical activity benefits specific conditions such as mental health, coronary heart disease, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and osteoporosis. For additional balance, they evaluate potential adverse effects of increased physical activity and assess the efficacy of counseling in persuading patients to increase their physical activity-all of which pinpoints important gaps in our knowledge and defines directions for future research.

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Authors
  1. Sally S. Harris
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  2. Carl J. Caspersen
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  3. Gordon H. DeFriese
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  4. E. Harvey Estes
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Izaak Walton Killam Hospital for Children, Dalhousie University, B3J 3G9, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

    Richard B. Goldbloom M.D. (Professor of Pediatrics) (Professor of Pediatrics)

  2. The Cambridge Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 02139, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Robert S. Lawrence M.D. (Charles S. Davidson Associate Professor of Medicine, Chief of Medicine) (Charles S. Davidson Associate Professor of Medicine, Chief of Medicine)

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Harris, S.S., Caspersen, C.J., DeFriese, G.H., Estes, E.H. (1990). Physical Activity for Healthy Adults: Counseling as a Primary Preventive Intervention in Clinical Settings. In: Goldbloom, R.B., Lawrence, R.S. (eds) Preventing Disease. Frontiers of Primary Care. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-3280-3_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-3280-3_8

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-7948-8

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