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Thank you for allowing me to leave you some information about a PREVENTION program I have developed that is based on a proactive approach to America’s present health care crisis (61% of America is overweight or obese!). My goal is to participate in a unified approach to health care in which PREVENTION (“Preparing to Prevent”) is used as a standard prescription and taken with the same degree of seriousness as other types of medical prescriptions assigned to care for illness and injury. I am interested in sharing this with our community by developing a team approach with their physicians. Exercise science is demonstrable (factual) and not assumption based (personal opinion). Programs implemented using exercise science explain “What”, “Why”, and “How” bodies respond to exercise. Exercise science provides evidence from which we can develop health and wellness solutions. Example: Aerobic Strength is a measurable component of fitness. Tests for aerobic strength provide a measurement of health just like the risk factor tests we use for cholesterol, blood pressure, blood sugar, and triglycerides. In fact, the higher a person’s peak exercise capacity, or MET Score (Aerobic Strength), the less chance they have of developing these risk factors. I have enclosed an article entitled “Will Doctor’s
Write a Prescription for Fitness?” The article describes a
research study involving 6000 patients, average age 59, who were
tracked for six years and who already had exhibited health risk
factors such as: High Blood Pressure, Elevated Cholesterol, Diabetes,
and a history of smoking. One third of them already had had heart
attacks. The study found that other than age, the single greatest
risk factor for death in the group was low levels of aerobic strength.
A person’s quality of life, as well as longevity, can be enhanced
by individual programs designed to ensure positive adaptation leading
to an increase in the person’s steady rate of exercise. Today the “Battle of the Bulge” is being fought in our school systems. Many children in the fifth and higher grades have shown high body mass index scores and increases in juvenile diabetes. If aerobic capacity testing were being done in the school system we would see a corresponding steady decline in test scores that can be correlated with an increase in health risk factors. The finger-pointing is starting with the parents wanting to know what food is being provided by the vendors and how much time is allocated for weekly physical education classes. They also want to know what their kids are learning while in Phys. Ed.: games, sports, recreational activities, or how to be fit for life? Children playing a game of softball are having fun in their group setting, but fun does not cause systematic changes to the children’s aerobic energy systems! The body’s delivery system (lungs, blood, red blood cells, blood vessels, and heart) and muscular system (mitochondria) are not being challenged by this activity. Systematic changes occur with the performance of aerobic programs designed to provide the combined correct intensity, duration, and frequency of exercise. This is the prescription to enable an increase in the rate oxygen is being delivered to, and being extracted from the muscle. The relationship of health, wellness, and fitness is more complex
than telling someone that “super sized” meals and lack
of activity has caused an overweight population. I mentioned earlier that strong leadership is needed because of a vulnerable public. A person’s physician plays the major role in providing the most credible information for guidance to better health. If we believe in the benefit of exercise, we must not belittle the importance of HOW we invest our time to reap the greatest return for our effort spent. In our community, we have an opportunity to do something great, and this can be accomplished by a unified “team” approach!
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Phone: 804-543-9293 |
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