Exercise is Medicine™ Month 2009 kicks off in just one month! Here are a few simple things you can do today:
Health problems associated with physical inactivity have a significant economic impact on the U.S. health care system, and a considerable influence on costs related to decreased worker productivity, restricted activity, and time missed from work. CDC reports that obesity costs the nation an estimated $117 billion in 2000; it is estimated that direct medical costs related to physical inactivity costs are about $76 billion. Inactivity doubles the risk of developing heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and obesity. It increases the risk of hypertension by almost one third, and doubles the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease and stroke. The economic impact of inactivity as well as obesity is critical to consider. These costs currently represent 16 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in the U.S. These costs are expected to reach 20 percent of GDP by 2016. How high can it go and how these growing costs will be met are questions that must be addressed.
The Exercise is Medicine™ initiative is designed to help improve the health and well-being of our nation through a regular physical activity prescription from physicians and other healthcare providers. This program calls on insurance companies to ask their physicians to prescribe exercise at every office visit, support preventive services, and provide incentives for your constituents to be physically active.
Join us in celebrating your health and fitness in May for Exercise is Medicine™ Month. There are plenty of ways you can participate, but here a few that may make sense for your constituents. Tell us your story if you plan to participate in other ways.
1. Distribute health promotion information containing exercise/physical activity tips to all of your insured.
2. Refer to the Exercise is Medicine™ Web site for content and tools that demonstrate ease and accessibility for exercise and physical activity.
3. Promote the Exercise is Medicine™ Web site and its principles to your professional network.
4. Sign on as a network member of Exercise is Medicine™.
5. Advocate that your employees be physically active and offer proactive incentives for participation in exercise programs. Share the Exercise is Medicine™ public toolkit with employees.
Please submit your constituent promotion ideas to EIM@acsm.org. As appropriate, we will add them to the list for our visitors to see.
Created by Dr. Robert Sallis during his tenure as president of the American College of Sports Medicine, Exercise is Medicine is a national initiative sponsored by ACSM to make physical activity assessment and exercise prescription a standard part of the disease prevention and treatment paradigm for all patients.
In this DVD program Dr. Sallis presents the concepts, data, and tools that define this groundbreaking program, as well as a description of the extensive nationwide support for Exercise is Medicine.
Click here to view a preview of this DVD, and order a full copy of the DVD here.
