Welcome to the future

An interesting study that should both reassure and inspire us was recently published in the journal Circulation (2001;104:1350–66). This study raises the issue of the role of sports and exercise medicine in the broader context of public health.

Many of us who see ourselves as “couch potatoes” or “mouse potatoes” to use the appropriate computer jargon, lament the passing of our former fitness. Well, hope is at hand. A study with a remarkable name, the Dallas Bed Rest and Training Study, has found in a 30 year follow up, that just six months of exercise can reverse the decline in cardiovascular capacity associated with aging. However, just three weeks of bed rest has a far more profound …