With the New Year upon us, it's always fun to read the predictions for the coming year and reflect on how the last one shaped up.
My prediction, regarding physical activity and exercise trends, is that there will be a shift of focus in information about the benefits of Physical activity. Promoting exercise will be for health and longevity with the emphasis on how to accrue activity throughout the whole day.
It seems public health campaigns and social media influencers have failed in getting people active with many adults still sedentary and clinging to ingrained perceptions of exercise being painful, time consuming and costly (Vic Gov 2018).
The notion of a one hour a day sweat session will hopefully give way to the importance of staying active throughout the entire day. Hopefully this will slowly eradicate barriers to ‘exercise’ with many options to be active becoming available to everyone. In every aspect of life there will be opportunities to move more, walk more, bend, lift, jump and run more.
New Year's Resolutions regarding exercise traditionally become grand gestures of marathon proportions (literally). A pledge of allegiance to the latest fitness fad, that 12 week challenge is solemnly accepted, expensive equipment is purchased and the diary gets booked out with group class submissions.
More and more research indicates it's not so much the high volume or intensity of activity that sustains health, its consistency. Without taking away from the structured training sessions, group class fitness and dedicated running schedules, information will provide ways for everyone to become more physical active. Parents, teachers, schools, universities, workplaces, communities and the government will be complicit rather than prohibiting.
We all now know getting more active results in increases in life expectancy, physical fitness, energy, mental health, cognitive functioning and social connectedness to list a few. The two most stated reasons for maintaining a regular physical activity program are; gaining a feeling of control over your own health and a way to manage emotions and mental well-being (Clifford et al 2018).
If you’re looking you can find a million suggestions and recommendations on how to put regular activity into your life and keep it there daily. There are plans and programs detailing ways and methods on how to stick at exercise and make it a valued part of your life and yet, exercise psychology literature continually poses the paradox that while a) exercise makes people feel better b) the majority of people are physically inactive or inadequately active (Booth et al. 2012).
The National Preventative Health Task Force 2008, established to embed physical activity into everyday life for Australians by 2020, informs us that the prevalence of overweight and obesity in Australia continues to increase with current trends indicating three quarters of Australians will be overweight or obese in 2025. And even though a quarter of the population partake in some form of regular exercise most are sedentary, sitting for up to 8 hours and more a day.
The latest qualitative research by the Victorian Government states ‘lack of time’ is still the main perceived barrier to achieving recommended levels of physical activity (Vic Gov 2019). In order to shift this perception and view physical activity as time spent achieving recognised and valued task priorities, physical activity should compliment and involve regular necessary tasks rather than competing with them. This means walking for transport, taking the stairs, having walking meetings, lunchtime activities and active thinking opportunities (The Lancet 2012).
According to Fishbein & Ajzen (2011), if an individual perceives a certain behaviour will induce a positive result than they will create a positive attitude towards that behaviour and happily partake. When adults perceive physical activity as difficult, painful and time consuming, it can demotivate and even provide excuses to avoid it. When exercise is perceived as a way to stay in shape, provide more energy, stave off disease and reduce stress, finding the time and developing a routine can be more easily achieved. Where public transport, workplaces and schools support activity throughout the day people are encouraged to keep active and eventually this becomes the norm.
Unfortunately lives are complex with so many variables impacting physical activity behaviour. Evidence suggests for any real, serious and meaningful behaviour change to occur it is best approached in do-able and incremental stages in a fluid, non-linear timeline.
Maybe a great place to begin making changes for the new year, 2020, could start with a one-day-at-a-time approach. Today looks lovely for a walk/jog/sail/weight session/row/swim/dance…
REFERENCES:
doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev.nutr.20.1.21
Comments