January 31, 2013Open Access
Increasing Physical Activity of High Intensity to Reduce the Prevalence of Chronic Diseases and Improve Public Health
Key Result
Increased physical activity, especially vigorous physical activity, is a major way to reduce the prevalence of chronic diseases and improve public health.
Structured PICO
P
Population
General population across all age groups
I
Intervention
High-intensity physical activity and coordinated population-based prevention programs
A coordinated population-based intervention program focusing on high-intensity exercise is urgently needed to reduce chronic disease prevalence and improve public health.
Limitations
- Previous community-intervention programs often relied on subjective self-reporting, which can dilute statistical differences due to potential biases.
- Contamination effects and secular trends for reductions in cardiovascular risk factors make it difficult to demonstrate significant differences in community trials.
Abstract
High incidence and prevalence of chronic diseases, increasing obesity and inactivity as well as rising health expenditure represent a set of developments that cannot be considered sustainable, and will have dire long-term consequences given the increasing proportion of elderly people in our society. Based on a review of the experiences from previous large scale population-based prevention programs and the documented effects of increased physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness on chronic diseases and its risk factors, we argue that increased physical activity, especially vigorous physical activity, is a major way to reduce the prevalence of chronic diseases and improve public health. We conclude that a coordinated population-based intervention program for improved health through increased physical activity in the entire population, with a special focus on high intensity exercise, urgently needs to be implemented nationally and internationally.