American journal of preventive medicine
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Review Comparative Study
Health benefits of Nordic walking: a systematic review.
Modern lifestyle, with its lack of everyday physical activity and exercise training, predisposes people to chronic diseases such as diabetes mellitus, obesity, hypertension, and coronary artery diseases. Brisk walking as a simple and safe form of exercise is undisputedly an effective measure to counteract sedentary lifestyle risks even in the most unfit and could lead to a reduction of the prevalence of chronic diseases in all populations. The purpose of this review is to systematically summarize, analyze, and interpret the health benefits of Nordic walking (walking with poles), and to compare it to brisk walking and jogging. ⋯ Nordic walking exerts beneficial effects on resting heart rate, blood pressure, exercise capacity, maximal oxygen consumption, and quality of life in patients with various diseases and can thus be recommended to a wide range of people as primary and secondary prevention.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Text messaging to motivate walking in older African Americans: a randomized controlled trial.
Older minority populations can benefit from increased physical activity, especially walking. Text messaging interventions have the potential to encourage positive changes in health behavior in these groups. ⋯ This study is registered at www.clinicaltrials.govNCT01697475.
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Physical inactivity is an important modifiable risk factor for noncommunicable disease. The degree to which physical activity affects the life expectancy of Americans is unknown. ⋯ Leisure-time physical activity is associated with increases in longevity.
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It is estimated that more than 9000 high school athletes are treated for exertional heat illness annually. Risk factors include being obese and beginning practice during hot and humid weather, when athletes are not yet acclimated to physical exertion in heat. ⋯ Although most exertional heat illnesses occurred in football, athletes in all sports and all geographic areas are at risk. Because exertional heat illness frequently occurs when medical professionals are not present, it is imperative that high school athletes, coaches, administrators, and parents are trained to identify and respond to it. Implementing effective preventive measures depends on increasing awareness of exertional heat illness and relevant preventive and therapeutic countermeasures.
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Increasing regular physical activity is a key public health goal. One strategy is to change the physical environment to encourage walking and cycling, requiring partnerships with the transport and urban planning sectors. Economic evaluation is an important factor in the decision to fund any new transport scheme, but techniques for assessing the economic value of the health benefits of cycling and walking have tended to be less sophisticated than the approaches used for assessing other benefits. ⋯ The tool then calculates the economic value of the deaths averted using the "value of a statistical life." The outputs of the tool support decision making on cycle infrastructure or policies, or can be used as part of an integrated economic appraisal. The tool's unique contribution is that it takes a public health approach to a transport problem, addresses it in epidemiologic terms, and places the results back into the transport context. Examples of its use include its adoption by the English and Swedish departments of transport as the recommended methodologic approach for estimating the health impact of walking and cycling.