Physical Activity and Exercise for Optimal Disease Prevention: Clinical Evidence

Previous physical activity guidelines from health organizations provide general physical activity and exercise intensity and duration recommendations. These guidelines have experienced very little change over the last two decades, despite significant changes in technology, more specifically wearable technology. The guidelines typical refer to exercise intensity as low, moderate and vigorous intensity based on a metabolic equivalent scale (MET) or a subjective scale. With wearable technology being accessible, affordable, reliable, and accurate, more attention should be given address recommendations that are multifaceted and specific. Most wearable technology can easily track sleep, steps, calories, hear rate, and exercise time within certain heart rate training zones. Research has shown that monitoring exercise and physical activity with wearable technology can improve health outcomes3.

Download Full-text

Changes in Compliance With Physical Activity Guidelines and Cardiovascular Disease Mortality

Journal of Physical Activity and Health ◽

10.1123/jpah.2020-0740 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-6

Author(s):

Christianne F. Coelho-Ravagnani ◽

Jeeser A. Almeida ◽

Xuemei Sui ◽

Fabricio C.P. Ravagnani ◽

Russell R. Pate ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Cardiovascular Disease ◽

Confidence Interval ◽

Cox Regression ◽

Parental History ◽

Metabolic Equivalent ◽

Physical Activity Guidelines ◽

Beneficial Effects ◽

Cvd Mortality

Background: The effects of compliance with the US Physical Activity (PA) Guidelines and changes in compliance over time on cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality are unknown. Methods: Male participants in the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study (n = 15,411; 18–100 y) reported leisure-time PA between 1970 and 2002. The frequency of and time spent in PA were converted into metabolic equivalent minutes per week. The participants were classified into remained inactive, became active, became inactive, or remained active groups according to their achievement of the PA guidelines along the follow-up, equivalent here to at least 500 metabolic equivalent minutes of PA per week. Cox regression adjusted for different models was used for the analyses, using age, body mass index, smoking and drinking status, hypertension, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, and parental history of CVD. Results: Over a mean follow-up of 6.2 years, 439 CVD deaths occurred. Consistently meeting the PA guidelines, compared with not meeting, was associated with a 54% (95% confidence interval, 0.32–0.67) decreased risk of CVD mortality. After controlling for all potential confounders, the risk reduction was 47% (95% confidence interval, 0.36–0.77). Conclusions: Maintaining adherence to the PA guidelines produces substantial reductions in the risk of CVD deaths in men. Furthermore, discontinuing compliance with the guidelines may offset the beneficial effects on longevity.

Download Full-text

Abstract P284: ClusterAnalysis of Objectively Measured Physical Activity Patterns in Women in the mPEDTrial

Circulation ◽

10.1161/circ.137.suppl_1.p284 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 137 (suppl_1) ◽

Author(s):

Yoshimi Fukuoka ◽

Mo Zhou ◽

Eric Vittinghoff ◽

William Haskell ◽

Ken Goldberg ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Specific Activity ◽

Vigorous Physical Activity ◽

Activity Patterns ◽

Metabolic Equivalent ◽

Number Of Clusters ◽

Physically Active ◽

Physical Activity Guidelines ◽

Physical Activity Interventions ◽

Objectively Measured

Background: Determining patterns of physical activity throughout the day could assist in developing more personalized interventions or physical activity guidelines in general, and in particular for women, who are less likely to be physically active than men. Objective: The aims of this report are to identify clusters of women based on accelerometer measured raw metabolic equivalent values (METs) and a normalized version of the METs ≥ 3 data and to compare sociodemographic and cardio metabolic risks among these identified clusters. Methods: 215 women wearing an accelerometer for at least 8 hours per day for the last 7 days prior to the randomization visit were analyzed. A K-means clustering method, the Lloyd’s algorithm, was used. To choose the number of clusters, we used the elbow method, looking at the percentage of variance explained as a function of the number of clusters. Results: The results of k means cluster analyses of raw METs revealed three different clusters (Figure 1) and the Low Active Group (n=102) had the highest depressive symptoms score compared to the Afternoon Active (n=65) and Morning Active (n=48) groups (overall P < .001). Based on a normalized version of the METs ≥ 3 data Figure 2), the moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) Evening Peak group (n = 108) had higher BMI, and waist and hip circumference than the MVPA Noon Peak group (n=61) (overall P =.03, .02, and .03 respectively). Conclusions: Categorizing physical inactive individuals into more specific activity patterns could aid in creating timing, frequency, duration, and intensity of physical activity interventions for women. Further research is needed to confirm these cluster groups using a large national dataset.

Download Full-text