don's report archive

by Donald B. Ardell, Ph. D.

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

Americans are fat, lazy and addicted to medications. Maybe it's time for a new acronym-FLAMS! Since so many have this condition, it will save lots of newspaper space, and thus trees and the environment itself! Most people who fit the FLAMS category are likely to stay that way until they die prematurely, long before they would expire if they took better care of themselves.

Sorry. Sometimes it's no longer appropriate to be polite, gentle and diplomatic. Besides, I'm tired of being a sweet, loveable guy who tiptoes around the truth about exercise. I still want to be a sweet, loveable guy, but the namby-pamby advice to "do a little exercise here, a little there and she'll be right" is a crock of bull bleep. It is high time to tell it like it is. It's nice to be adored, but that's not realistic for wellness promoters willing to offer "tough love." I think the latter is going to be required in order to rattle the cages of the FLAMS.

Yes, we have to challenge the FLAMS of this country to reconsider their neglect of adequate exercise. Adequate exercise on a daily basis is neither quick nor easy but it still deserves a higher priority than most are willing to admit, and commit. With a major commitment to serious daily exercise, people afflicted with FLAMS could transform! By definition we could no longer consider them lazy-- and they surely would no longer feel the need to medicate themselves with excessive doses of prescription and over-the-counter medications.

Of course, not everybody IS a FLAM--"only" 64 percent of us are! That's a lot! In fact, it's about 165 million people. This is a national crisis warranting tough talk. It is time to consider other approaches beyond the minimalist strategies suggested by Ken Cooper and others who counsel moderation (20 minutes a day of light exercise, for example). Such coddling will not enable people to lose hazardous fat OR, more important, to achieve and maintain muscle tone. Exceptional health will come only with exceptional fitness.

Recently, the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine recommended 60 minutes or more exercise daily for preventing weight gain and achieving adequate fitness. I've been urging that level for decades, based on my own experience with exercise and reading of the literature, work with students and so on. A recent USA Today article (3/27/2003) also featured accounts by varied experts agreeing that everyone in the 64 percent category should double his/her daily exercise levels.

Dr. Cooper and others knew, of course, that 20 minutes or even half an hour of activity was insufficient. Yet, they chose not to recommend any more out of concern that even this amount would seem too much trouble to the sedentary mindset. Unfortunately, 20 minutes daily was never enough activity, even if undertaken faithfully (regularly, in other words), to keep waistlines from bulging over time.

The goal was to get sedentary Americans to do something, anything, but many people didn't realize that 30 minutes of activity might not keep their waistlines under control. Now the pendulum is swinging back.

A top medical expert at the Harvard Medical School summed up the problem in this quote from the USA Today story noted above: "People have got to stop kidding themselves about what it takes to control weight. They can't take a little stroll and think they are doing themselves any good. You need the intensity and you need the time, at least 60 minutes." Just so.

A different expert based at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver referred to the former minimal standard of Cooper and others: "If everybody did 30 minutes of activity a day, it would be huge for public health. Would it make everybody lean? I don't think so."

One guide to whether your activity level is sufficient is your weight and body composition. If you are adding weight and gaining girth, even with the old 30 minutes routine, it's clear you need to do more. Maybe you should start training for a marathon, even if you don't really intend to do one! With the exception of those who do marathons as a stunt publicity gimmick, like Oprah Winfrey, there are not a lot of tubby long-distance runners. Of course, it's hard for everybody, even skinny people, to run long distances, both mentally and physically. Trust me--I know. I run about six miles daily and it's not fun. However, the payoffs are huge, so it's worth the aggravation, considerable time required and injury risks.

I'm always amazed that when sedentary folks remark on how they never see runners smiling. Of course not--it's not about having fun. It's hard work. The time to smile is AFTER a run, in part because the run is over for the day. As noted in the beginning, if adequate exercise were easy to obtain, everyone would be working out and fit, healthy and committed to wellness lifestyles. Alas, we are as a society a long way from that happy day.

Do what you can to get as close to an hour a day of vigorous exercise, knowing that it is easier for some than others but difficult for everybody. Life is not played on an even playing field -- a few people will always have better genetics, toys, opportunities and other resources than you do. Do what has to be or should be done anyway. Add strength training and some flexibility work to your hour-long aerobic or endurance training regimen. The rewards, payoffs and satisfactions will justify many times over the huge troubles, pains and time required to pull it off.

No, fitness and wellness are not easy, but all who manage say it's worth the ordeal. An old Yiddish proverb holds that "if the rich could hire others to die for them, the poor could make a wonderful living." Just so for adequate daily exercise (an hour a day at least): "If the rich could hire others to exercise for them, wellness seekers would make a killing!" As you know, reality is otherwise. The rich, like everyone else, must do for themselves or grow fat and die young. As one doctor noted in the USA Today story, "Despite all the technological advances in modern medicine, regular physical activity is as close as we've come to a magic bullet for good health. So, find activities you enjoy and do them."

Good luck. Look on the bright side of life-while you exercise daily for at least an hour.

(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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