don's report archive

by Donald B. Ardell, Ph. D.

Wellness in the Headlines
(Don's Report to the World)

One of my favorite philosophers is Calvin, the amazing six-year-old of Bill Watterson’s late and much lamented cartoon strip “Calvin and Hobbes.” One of Calvin's strips I still think about dealt with the meaning of life. In it, Calvin and his imaginary playmate, Hobbes, are standing on a sidewalk when Calvin proposes a hypothetical situation for Hobbes to ponder: “Let’s say that life is this square of the sidewalk. We are born at this crack and we die at that crack. Now we find ourselves somewhere inside the square and in the process of walking outside of it. Suddenly, we realize our time in here is fleeting. Is our quick experience here pointless? Does anything we say or do in here really matter? Have we done anything important? Have we been happy? Have we made the most of these precious few footsteps?”

Promoters of exercise and fitness, as well as overall self-management, often ask themselves this kind of question. Like Calvin, we wonder if anything we say or do really matters, if we have done anything important if, in short, we have made a difference?

Well, a new study suggests that yes, what we say does matter, what we’ve done is important and what we do does make a difference! It seems that as little as three hours of counseling over a two-year period is likely to make a significant impact on adult physical fitness. The two-year research project compared three types of education and counseling, all varying in intensity. Sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health, the findings suggest that all manner of counseling seems to work equally well in significantly increasing women's and men's physical activity. A special focus of the research findings is targeted to medical doctors, who are urged to engage in such counseling with patients. A summary of the study can be found in the August 8, 2001 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

"The study shows that doctors and their medical staff can help their patients, especially women, increase their physical fitness and that such an effort doesn't take much time," said NHLBI Director Dr. Claude Lenfant. This should encourage all promoters of healthy lifestyles, in addition to motivating doctors to offer such advice.

The following passage from the Report sums things rather well, it seems to me: Physical inactivity is a major risk factor for heart disease and high blood pressure, and contributes to overweight and obesity. Federal recommendations call for adults to engage in at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity, such as brisk walking, on five or more days of the week. But, according to the 1996 Surgeon General's Report, Physical Activity and Health, 26.9 percent of women and 21.4 percent of men age 18 or older engage in no leisure-time physical activity.

If doctors and others act on these findings, we could expect major health gains. With such gains, anyone who is in the health promotion business, or on the outskirts of such matters, such as medical doctors seeing sick people with poor lifestyle practices, could feel good when pondering the meaning of life questions that Calvin once put to his friend Hobbes.

Be well, enjoy and look on the bright side of life.

(Note: This essay will be filed in the archives in the PHYSICAL DOMAIN under the skill area of exercise and fitness. Additional articles related to this theme may be found there.)

(Ed. Note: Views expressed in this and other columns are those of the author and not necessarily those of the SeekWellness Editorial Board.)

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