Physical activity for all: new research highlights health benefits
- Correspondence to Dr K G Harmon, Box 354410, University of Washington, Seattle, 98125, USA; kharmon{at}u.washington.edu
Keeping people active is a major focus of sports medicine professionals. Regular exercise helps reduce the incidence of diabetes, hypertension, cancer, depression and osteoporosis. However, recent articles in the lay press have questioned the benefits of exercise, specifically whether or not exercise helps you lose weight (http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1914857,00.html). Sports, fitness and exercise professionals, including the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM), have taken strong exception to that peculiar interpretation of the evidence. In a world where the direct results of obesity and physical inactivity result in an estimated $147 billion dollars (US) in health care cost in the United States alone,1 the last thing people need is another excuse not to exercise. In this issue, Dr Neil King and colleagues from Professor John Blundell’s lab in Leeds report that exercise provides important health benefits independently of weight loss2 …
