Changing Physical Activity Participation for the Medical Profession

Abstract

BEING SEDENTARY IS A WAY OF LIFE FOR MANY HEALTH professionals who have been in practice, as is true for those in many other professions. Meetings, grand rounds, charting, dictation, outpatient interaction, classroom teaching, and medical conferences result in hours with little movement and much less moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) at the level recommended by the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. As Lesser et al recently pointed out, health professionals have called for changes in the food environment in their communities, and yet little attention has been paid to the nutrient-poor quality of the food where physicians work, meet, and learn. Just as problematic, and despite its minimal cost and proven value to health, essentially no attention has been directed toward incorporating short bouts of physical activity into the organizational routine during meetings, conferences, and other ordinary, daily medical professional gatherings. Reintegrating fitness and movement into the daily lives of health professionals is as critical as attending to the quality of their diets. Emerging data suggest that physical activity bouts as short as 3 to 5 minutes may contribute to positive organizational and individual health outcomes, as well as the possible independent benefits of disrupting sedentary time. Ten-minute bouts of physical activity have been counted toward the 30-minute daily accrual of MVPA since federal recommendations were updated in 1995.