Tag Archives: exercise

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Risks of Exercise

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What about the risks of physical activity? As
you might expect, physically active adults do experience a higher rate of leisure
time and sports related injuries than those who are less active. Despite this,
those that engage in moderate intensity aerobic activity have a similar overall
injury rate when compared to the more sedentary people. It seems that the
more active individuals may have more activity related injuries, but the
nonsport and nonleisure injuries are less. The reverse is true for their more
sedentary counterparts. As the intensity level increases, so does the risk of
injuries. The risk of cardiac arrest or heart attack is low for healthy adults
at the moderate intensity levels, but it increases as the intensity level
increases especially for those who exercise infrequently. This underscores the
importance of getting a medical clearance from one’s physician before starting
any exercise program. It is recommended that, “Symptomatic persons or those
with any cardiovascular disease, diabetes, other active chronic disease, or any
medical concern, should consult a physician prior to any substantive increase
in physical activity, particularly vigorous intensity activity.” (1)

In the next post we’ll revisit the relationship between MET levels and weight loss.

For Your Health – Dr. Bob

Footnotes: 

(1) W. L. Haskell, et al. Circulation. 2007;116:1089; originally published online Aug. 1, 2007

Pros And Cons

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As you identify your motivations for changing your habits of eating and exercise in order to lose weight, listing the pros and cons of making the changes can be helpful. This process helps to validate your decision to make those lifestyle changes.

The actual process is simple. Just draw a vertical line down the middle of a sheet of paper. Then at the top of the left column write Pros and on the right, Cons. Take some time to list reasons for making the change on the left and the reasons not to make the change on the right. Most people easily come up with more reasons to change their behavior than reasons not to make the effort.

For weight loss, most people list the health benefits, improvements in appearance and increases in confidence as the main benefits they will obtain if they lose weight. The health benefits alone include decreasing the risk of heart disease, diabetes and certain kinds of cancer. In addition, weight loss decreases the stress on your knees and hips.

The negative aspects of changing one’s eating and exercise habits is that it isn’t easy and requires work. You need to take the effort to substitute your new healthier behaviors for your old unhealthy ones.

After my heart attack, finding motivation wasn’t very difficult. The pros of minimizing my chances of having a second heart attack or dying far outweighed the work necessary to change my habits. Ideally, you won’t have to have a heart attack before you change your lifestyle for the better.

Save your list of pros and cons. When you get discouraged as you work through your behavior changes, pull it out to remind yourself of the benefits you’ll get if you reach your goal.

For Your Health – Dr. Bob