Hélène Perrault, Mc Gill University, Montréal, Canada
Ten years ago, the US Department of Health and Human Services published the first Surgeon General’s report on physical activity and health. This report entitled: “Physical Activity and Health: A Report of the Surgeon General” was the most comprehensive review of the research on physical activity and health involving the contribution of more than one hundred exercise scientists and is a landmark in bringing attention to “physical activity” or “lack of ” as a major public health issue. Despite nearly fifty years of national efforts to encourage young Americans to partake in sports and exercise, results showed that more than half of the population was not regularly active. This observation raises many questions as to the reasons for such statistics, the interactions and/or overlap between these observations and the current prevalence of chronic cardiovascular and pulmonary disease, the application of findings from the Surgeon General Report to patients with chronic cardiopulmonary disease, the reversibility of this lifestyle statistic.
In an interactive forum, this workshop will examine the bases and evolution of exercise prescription in health and disease and review the current knowledge on physical activity and health interactions. More specifically, the workshop will address a series of issues related to the assessment, prescription and supervision of physical activity and exercise such as 1) the assessment and interpretation of cardiorespiratory fitness 2) the evidence base for health-related benefits of physical activity 3) the nature of the relationship between physical activity and health 4) the adverse effects of physical activity 5) the current recommendations in terms of physical activity and exercise 6) the patterns of physical activity participation 7) recommending physical activity. Participants will be quizzed as to their awareness and understanding of the current knowledge base status on these issues followed by a presentation and discussion of the standing evidence and the potential for translation to the cardiovascular and pulmonary patients.
