Article

The United States is in the midst of a significant public health problem that
relates to obesity and inactivity. This epidemic has far-ranging consequences for
our workforce and our children and shows no signs of slowing in the near future.
Significant research has been performed on the effects of exercise for the
reduction of body weight; results of most studies indicate that exercise alone
has a small effect on body-weight reduction independent of caloric restriction.
However, when combined with dietary restriction, exercise has a synergistic
effect and enhances weight loss beyond the effect of diet alone. In addition,
exercise has been shown to have significant beneficial effects on cardiovascular
and metabolic risk factors independent of actual weight loss, and losing just a
small amount of weight can have a significant beneficial effect on these
parameters. Genetic factors related to obesity have been found to be positively
modified when persons incorporate physical activity into their lifestyle. Sitting
time appears to be an independent risk factor for the development of metabolic
risk factors; persons who spend more time sitting and watching television have
worse metabolic profiles, even if they achieve the recommended amount of physical
activity per week, than do those who move about throughout the day. Exercise also
is essential for the prevention of weight gain over a life span, although the
amount required to prevent weight gain may be closer to twice the amount of
exercise recommended by the current Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans
(www.health.gov/paguidelines). In many ways, the physiatrist is the most well
prepared of all the specialists to address the complex, multidimensional problems
of obesity and inactivity.
CI - Copyright (c) 2012 American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.
Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS