A growing understanding of the link between movement and health

A century ago, people threw medicine balls and did calisthenics to stay fit. Then came the hula hoop, vibrating belts and aerobics. 人们跟着理查德·西蒙斯(Richard Simmons)唱老歌，跟着简·方达(Jane Fonda)感受激情, 然后跳起舞来进行拉丁风格的有氧运动或参加高强度的健身项目. 大流行期间，运动自行车蓬勃发展.

人们的锻炼方式随着每一种新趋势而变化, 但是，体育活动是健康的关键这一观点不仅仅是一时的时尚. 即使是古希腊人，也就是希律狄斯, 被誉为运动医学之父, 和希波克拉底, the father of modern medicine – were convinced exercise was key, though they couldn't agree on how strenuous it should be.

That question wouldn't be resolved for thousands of years. And as science continues to evolve, the answer may change yet again.

不会改变的是，保持活跃对健康有很多好处——包括降低心脏病发作的风险, 中风, 痴呆和几种癌症, boosting mental health and potentially reversing 2型糖尿病.

“有大量证据表明，体育锻炼与大多数健康结果有关,”医生说。. 贝瑟妮·巴隆·吉布斯, 摩根敦西弗吉尼亚大学流行病学和生物统计学系主任. "In fact, there are very few outcomes that being physically active does not improve."

工程活动远离我们的生活

保持移动并不总是那么困难. 人们这么做是因为他们不得不这么做.

“一百年前, 人们的生活更加艰难, so there was a lot of physical activity built into their lives,吉布斯说. Though automobile ownership was becoming more common, it wasn't yet the norm. 便利设施，如洗衣机, spin dryers and vacuum cleaners were just beginning to hit the market.

吉布斯说:“人们不得不步行去商店，他们做了很多手工家务和农活。. "There was a lot more activity involved in keeping yourself alive. 人们在寻找减少工作量的方法. Now, physical activity is something you need to add back into your life."

随着汽车的激增和电器的普及，人们不得不做的体力劳动减少了, "we got to a point where we weren't so physically active,吉布斯说. By the 1950s, "some people were not active at all. It then became apparent that maybe people who were more active were healthier. 但没有数据支持这一观点. 没有人想过测量身体活动，所以这是一个尚未开发的科学问题."

找到数据来支持它

苏格兰流行病学家. 杰瑞·莫里斯(Jerry Morris)是第一个研究体育活动与心脏健康之间关系的人. 他假设，从事体力活动的人患心脏病的几率比那些不活动的人低. 为了证明这点, 在20世纪50年代早期，他比较了双层巴士上售票员和司机的心脏病发病率和死亡率, 电车和有轨电车，并找到司机, 谁整天坐着, had twice the cardiac mortality rate of conductors, 他们四处走动.

莫里斯之后不久 发表了他的研究，美国流行病学家. 小拉尔夫·帕芬贝格. 通过找到一种测量人们运动量的方法，推动了体育活动研究的发展. He 制定问卷调查 事实证明，这在评估身体活动水平与一系列疾病发展之间的联系方面是可靠的, 包括心脏病, 中风, 2型糖尿病, 高血压, 抑郁与长寿.

这离精确地确定人们应该运动多少或多剧烈还差得很远——随着可穿戴设备的出现，研究人员最终能够做到这一点，这种设备可以全天跟踪一个人的运动——但这给了研究人员一个开始的地方, 吉布斯说.

“自我报告问卷并不完美, but they distinguish the very active from not-active people,吉布斯说.

到20世纪70年代, 美国心脏协会开始提倡增加身体活动以改善心血管健康, 但直到一系列的大型, 在20世纪80年代和90年代进行的流行病学研究中，出现了有关获得健康益处所需的活动类型和数量的证据. 渐增地, 研究表明，即使是散步和园艺等中等强度的活动也会产生影响, 导致 1995 U.S. 卫生局局长的报告 encouraging people to engage in 30 to 45 minutes of moderate activity each day, 对于那些已经这样做的人, 给自己更大的压力.

然而，该报告指出，60%的美国人.S. adults failed to do so and 25% were hardly moving at all.

指导方针出现

As researchers continued to explore the question over the next three decades, federal guidelines for how much and how often people should move evolved, 这反映了人们对体育活动影响健康和长寿方式的深入理解.

In 2007, 美国运动医学学院, along with the American Medical Association and the U.S. 卫生局局长, 发起了一项名为“运动就是药”的运动, 呼吁人们每周进行150分钟中等强度的锻炼.

现行的联邦指导方针 backed by the AHA continue to promote the 150-minute goal as a minimum. 但他们现在反映了额外的证据，表明人们的目标是每周进行300分钟的中等强度运动, or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise. Moderate-intensity muscle strengthening has been added as a twice-weekly goal, along with balance and fall prevention training for older adults. 建议儿童每天至少进行一小时的适度体育活动, with vigorous aerobic activity three times each week.

该指南还反映了人们对运动重要性的认识有了重大的新进展:一天中即使是少量的活动也会产生影响.

A 2022年JAMA内科研究 showed adding just 10 minutes of exercise per day may help people live longer. 越来越多的证据表明，重要的不仅仅是人们运动了多少，还有他们坐了多久. The guidelines now discourage long periods of sedentary behavior, 这一建议得到了COVID-19大流行封锁期间出现的研究的支持, finding a benefit with even five minutes of movement at least once an hour.

“离开沙发”

"The big public health message is to just get off the couch,”医生说。. 达蒙迅速, 他是夏洛茨维尔弗吉尼亚大学的运动生理学家和副教授.

“人们有一种误解，认为只有成为马拉松运动员才能从运动中获得健康益处,他说. "But really the benefits accrue much earlier than that. 只要你从沙发上爬起来, there is a large decrease in risk as you go from being inactive to somewhat active. When you go from 150 to 300 minutes of physical activity, benefits still accrue but you get the most bang from your buck at the beginning."

自大流行以来, which accelerated the shift to a virtual existence, 人们的流动比以往任何时候都要少, 吉布斯说. Just 1 in 4 men and 1 in 5 women and adolescents currently 获得推荐量 of aerobic and muscle-strengthening exercise, the federal guidelines say.

"We have engineered physical activity out of our lives,吉布斯说. "You can do all your shopping online, order your food online. If you wanted to spend all day not moving, you could do it. 我真的认为我们在生产力和舒适以及生活中所有便利之间存在紧张关系, 如果我们不努力的话, to not have physical activity as part of our lives at all."

所以不管是快走, riding an exercise bike or pulling Jane Fonda aerobic videos off the shelf, 最后, it doesn't really matter what you do to stay active, 斯威夫特说. 只要你做点什么.

“我给人们的建议是，做你喜欢做的事情，这对你来说很容易,吉布斯说. “我们不需要更多的证据来证明体育活动是否对你有益，或者哪种运动对你有益. 我们需要更多的人来做这件事."