Lancet series calls for making exercise a sign of health

The researchers behind the study belong to the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences,University of California,University of Sydney and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Incidentally,their recommendations come on the heels of a recent study that said effects of exercise on mental health may be overstated. With some doctors advocating pain as the fifth vital sign,The Lancet series is expected to set off a medical debate.

Doctors in India welcome the idea of recording history of exercise habits,pointing out that it was especially important in a country such as India facing a potential diabetes and obesity “epidemic”. This has even prompted one of the world’s first national programmes for prevention and control of non-communicable diseases.

The Lancet paper,they say,is a wake-up call for Indian doctors to move from drug-centric prescriptions to those that focus on lifestyle changes even if that means spending more time with the patient.

While the beneficial effects of exercise in combating diabetes,obesity and cardiac problems have been well talked about,there has been regretfully less discussion on the role regular physical activity plays in keeping some types of cancer (such as colon) at bay,its role in mental health and improvement of cognition and memory and about how it can be the key to maintaining bone strength in groups vulnerable to osteoporosis such as post-menopausal women.

“Moderate regular activity has long been accepted as one of the cornerstones of fitness and health. The idea of including exercise in routine history taking is specially significant for India with its burden of diabetics and obese people. At present it is largely limited to doctors dealing with these two ailments but in the light of the much wider contribution of exercise in wellness,there is a need to make it a uniform practice,” says Dr K S Reddy,former professor of cardiology at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences,who is chairman of the high-level expert group constituted by the Planning Commission to look at universal health coverage.

The apparent neglect of lifestyle changes by doctors during the consultation process,many experts feel,has to do with time constraints,as explaining the implications and essentials of a suitable exercise regimen requires much more of doctors.

“This (exercise as fifth vital sign) is a wonderful concept. Indian physicians generally are neither in the habit of recording physical activity pattern,nor devoting enough time to explain the do’s and dont’s of physical activity. Regular exercise,and its augmentation when patient is overweight,is particularly important for Indians because of their propensity to develop obesity-related diseases in an early and severe manner,” Dr Anoop Misra,Director,Centre of Internal Medicine,Fortis Hospital,said.