Tag Archive for 'attività fisica'

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Italy continues to be a sedentary country

Published on September 10, 2019 in Corsa, Generale and Stress. 0 Comments Tags: attività fisica, Italia, sedentarietà.

The sport for all in Italy is now considered to be like the air for the prisoners, toreduce a bit the frustrations that plague us. So at school there are no more than two hours a week and the physical education teacher is the least considered in the class councils. Fortunately, there are parents who are willing to pay to ensure that their children are engaged in a club sport. Not to mention the adult to whom it has never been no policy to introduce them to an active approach to physical activity. It’s an old and repetitive speech that has returned to the fore at the conference organized by the Italian Olympic Committee and Istat on the theme “Sport in Italy – Numbers and Context 2014.” It was found that the sedentaries are more than 24 million, or nearly 42 % of Italians. Percentage who is an Everest to the South, 56.2%, while in the North down to 31.7% and Centre to 41%. To understand the dramatic nature of these data, I just remember that in Europe, the countries with higher practitioners, according to the Eurobarometer survey on sport and physical activity, are those of Northern Europe: Sweden, where 70% of people say to do gymnastics or sports at least once a week, they are just over Denmark (68%) and Finland (66%) followed by the Netherlands (58%) and Luxembourg (54%).

More than a quarter of European citizens don’t practice any king of physical exercise outside working hours. In Italy, this figure rises to 43%. The latest Eurostat statistics reveal this. According to this dataset, 28% of Europeans in 2017 did not do any kind of exercise in their free time.

Ranked bar chart of share of population who exercise outside work, 2017

Negative side of the list, there are Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cipro, Malta, Portugal, Romania, Italy and Hungary. Even if the sport as a physically active lifestyle, it’s not part of the Italian political agenda, however, we must move from mere complaint to concrete proposals. I refer to some among those made in the USA from 50 scientific associations:

Public education programs to ensure that all Americans understand the benefits of healthy lifestyles and how to take advantage of the range of options open to them;
Professional education so that health professionals consider physical activity a vital sign like blood pressure and cholesterol levels, to be monitored and tracked regularly;
Electronic Medical Records that include fields for physical activity. As health provider systems convert to EMRs, they can easily begin to track exercise as a vital sign;
Medical school curricula that give all physicians an adequate grounding in how to counsel patients on healthy lifestyles, and
Increased opportunities for underserved populations to enjoy exercise and physical activity, by addressing disparities in the built environment, access to equipment and other barriers.

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Copenhagen Consensus statement 2019: physical activity and ageing

Published on May 3, 2019 in Corsa, Generale and Stress. 0 Comments Tags: anziani, attività fisica, esercizio.

Bangsbo J, Blackwell J, Boraxbekk C, et al Copenhagen Consensus statement 2019: physical activity and ageing. Br J Sports Med Published Online First: 21 February 2019.

Abstract

From 19th to 22nd November 2018, 26 researchers representing nine countries and a variety of academic disciplines met in Snekkersten, Denmark, to reach evidence-based consensus about physical activity and older adults. It was recognised that the term ‘older adults’ represents a highly heterogeneous population. It encompasses those that remain highly active and healthy throughout the life-course with a high intrinsic capacity to the very old and frail with low intrinsic capacity.

The consensus is drawn from a wide range of research methodologies within epidemiology, medicine, physiology, neuroscience, psychology and sociology, recognising the strength and limitations of each of the methods. Much of the evidence presented in the statements is based on longitudinal associations from observational and randomised controlled intervention studies, as well as quantitative and qualitative social studies in relatively healthy community-dwelling older adults.Nevertheless, we also considered research with frail older adults and those with age-associated neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, and in a few cases molecular and cellular outcome measures from animal studies.

The consensus statements distinguish between physical activity and exercise. Physical activity is used as an umbrella term that includes both structured and unstructured forms of leisure, transport, domestic and work-related activities. Physical activity entails body movement that increases energy expenditure relative to rest, and is often characterised in terms of intensity from light, to moderate to vigorous. Exercise is defined as a subset of structured physical activities that are more specifically designed to improve cardiorespiratory fitness, cognitive function, flexibility balance, strength and/or power.

This statement presents the consensus on the effects of physical activity on older adults’ fitness, health, cognitive functioning, functional capacity, engagement, motivation, psychological well-being and social inclusion. It also covers the consensus on physical activity implementation strategies. While it is recognised that adverse events can occur during exercise, the risk can be minimised by carefully choosing the type of activity undertaken and by consultation with the individual’s physician when warranted, for example, when the individual is frail, has a number of co-morbidities, or has exercise-related symptoms, such as chest pain, heart arrhythmia or dizziness.

The consensus was obtained through an iterative process that began with the presentation of the state-of-the-science in each domain, followed by group and plenary discussions. Ultimately, the participants reached agreement on the 30-item consensus statements.

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#JFK #sport

Published on March 2, 2019 in Generale and Giovani. 0 Comments Tags: attività fisica, JFK, Kennedy, sport.

“Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity.”

John F. Kennedy

Risultati immagini per jfk kennedy

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Worldwide fitness trends for 2019

Published on February 4, 2019 in Allenatori, Generale and Stress. 0 Comments Tags: attività fisica, esercizio, fitness, medici, medicina, personal trainer, tecnologia, trend.

Top ten fitness trends for 2019

Wearable Technology. Wearable technology includes fitness trackers, smart watches, heart rate monitors, and GPS tracking devices.
Group Training. Group exercise instructors teach, lead, and motivate individuals through intentionally designed, larger, in-person group movement classes (more than five participants, or it would be group personal training).
High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). These exercise programs typically involve short bursts of high-intensity bouts of exercise followed by a short period of rest.
Fitness Programs for Older Adults. This is a trend that emphasizes and caters to the fitness needs of the Baby Boom and older generations. These individuals in general have more discretionary money than their younger counterparts, and fitness clubs may capitalize on this growing market.
Bodyweight Training. A combination of variable resistance bodyweight training and neuromotor movements using multiple planes of movement, this program is all about using bodyweight as the training modality.
Employing Certified Fitness Professionals. The importance of hiring certified health/fitness professionals through educational programs and certification programs that are fully accredited for health/fitness professionals is more important than ever.
Yoga. Yoga has taken on a variety of forms within the past year (including Power Yoga, Yogilates, yoga in hot environments, and others).
Personal Training. This trend continues as the profession of personal training becomes more accessible online, in health clubs, in the home, and in worksites that have fitness facilities. Personal training includes fitness testing and goal setting with the trainer working one on one with a client to prescribe workouts specific to each client’s individual needs and goals.
Functional Fitness Training. This is a trend toward using strength training and other activities/movements to improve balance, coordination, strength, and endurance to improve activities of daily living.
Exercise is Medicine. Exercise is Medicine (EIM) is a global health initiative that is focused on encouraging primary care physicians and other health care providers to include physical activity assessment and associated treatment recommendations as part of every patient visit, and referring their patients to exercise professionals. In addition, EIM recognizes fitness professionals as part of the health care team in their local communities.

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Book review: Promoting Active Lifestyles in Schools

Published on January 31, 2019 in Allenatori, Calcio, Corsa, Generale, Giovani, Libri, Tennis and Tiro a volo. 0 Comments Tags: attività fisica, Human Kinetics, Jo Harris, Lorraine Cale, physical activity, Scuola, vita attiva.

Promoting Active Lifestyles in Schools

Jo Harris e Lorraine Cale

Human Kinetics

2018, 128 pages

Promoting physical activity and consequently an active lifestyle has become in recent years an increasingly important topic to talk about, whereas instead we seem to be driven to lead an increasingly sedentary life. It then becomes essential to talk about movement when it is related to children and in a broader sense with young people: we know too well which and the negative results of the lack of physical activity, from the likely increase in weight to limitations in self-knowledge and to interactions with other peers.

I’m happy when books dedicated to this theme are published. At this regard, the book by Jo Harris and Lorraine Cale, entitled Promoting Active Lifestyles in Schools, is a stimulus for everyone, not only for teachers of physical education but also for parents and school managers or sports organizations, to ask what and how we can do more and better to promote a mentality in young people aimed at finding movement as a form of well-being, fun, play, collaboration but also challenge with themselves and their own peers.

It is a very well-articulated book. In the first part are presented topics about how to promote an active lifestyle in UK schools with activities promoting health, movement and fitness in the age group of infancy and adolescence. Particular attention is paid to the role of the school in promoting this approach to the movement and the contribution that physical education provides to the promotion of personal well-being is also outlined.

The other two parts of the book underline the monitoring modalities that should be carried out by the school relating to the three areas of health, physical activity and physical fitness. Furthermore, the third part highlights the learning of young people in the area of health enhancing an active lifestyle. The learning of the young is strictly related to their age. The group age start from the age of 5-7 years going ahead with periods of two/three years up to 15-16 years.

The book is aimed at school teachers but it is certainly a useful reading for all those interested in promoting a physically active lifestyle among young people.

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+ age + physical activity

Published on December 27, 2018 in Generale and Stress. 0 Comments Tags: anziani, attività fisica, movimento, UK.

A new report, produced by Sheffield Hallam University, ukactive and DataHub, argues something health industry professionals have long known to be true – that people should become more active as they age, not less.

Reimagining Ageing, released at the ukactive National Summit in September, says older people’s lives are being cut short by inactivity and paints a compelling picture of how the cost of not tackling this challenge could threaten the NHS.

A few key facts: by 2030 the number of people in the UK aged 60 or over will hit 20 million – up 31 per cent from today’s figure of 15.3 million.

“Our population is ageing fast, with a proliferation of health problems. It has long been assumed such problems were directly caused by ageing, and could, therefore, be neither prevented nor treated,” says Sir Muir Gray, formerly chief knowledge officer for the NHS.

“However, we have clear evidence that ageing by itself is not a cause of major health problems until people are in their mid-90s. In fact, the problems we’ve ascribed to ageing are due to disease – much of it preventable – such as loss of fitness and negative attitudes to growing older.

“The loss of function and resilience we’ve assumed to be the result of ageing can, in fact, be influenced principally by activity: physical, mental and social,” he says.

Getting our ageing population active will require a ‘cultural transformation’ of the perceptions we have towards ageing. As a sector, we must be prepared with the facilities, products, services, programmes and expertise required to meet the demands of an older population.

“We need to inspire a shift in how we approach our ageing years, with a major emphasis on building physical activity in at every step, to ensure long lives are also healthy lives,” says ukactive CEO Steven Ward. “The phrase ‘put your feet up’ is one of the most dangerous in the English language.”

The report calls for whole-society collaborations to create active environments via accessible community facilities, to embed physical activity promotion into the healthcare system and to harness new technology to make activity and exercise the natural choice for older people.

ukactive believes that one solution is Wellness Hubs, where physical activity facilities sit alongside local services such as libraries, police stations and GP surgeries, creating a single community focal-point that offers inclusive, welcoming and holistic physical activity experiences for a broad range of people. Evidence from existing Wellness Hubs has shown a positive impact on local communities, particularly among older populations.

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Physical activity, age, physiological functions

Published on December 7, 2018 in Allenatori, Generale and Stress. 0 Comments Tags: anziani, attività fisica, muscle, Norman Lazarus, old people, Physiology, sport, Stephen Harrridge.

Stephen D. R. Harridge and Norman R. Lazarus, Physiology, 32: 152–161, 2017.

At the anatomical level, muscle loss in older people is associated with atrophy of fast-contracting, type II muscle fibers. Indeed, it has been suggested that type II fiber atrophy might completely explain the loss of muscle bulk in later life. However, a prevailing view is that skeletal muscle loss also relates to a loss of muscle fibers secondary to a loss of motor units. Partial re-innervation of abandoned fibers is believed to occur, resulting in an increased size of remaining motor units, with knock-on effects for fine motor control. This hypothesis is supported with histological evidence of fiber-type grouping and through electromyo- graphic estimates of motor unit number.

Whereas evidence of streaming of Z line and rod formation, and angulated fibers further point to dysregulation of skeletal muscle in later life (81). Studies of mas- ter athletes paint a very different picture (as illustrated in FIGURE 3), which once more challenges the assertion that these changes can be explained by an inherent aging process and are inevitable consequences of getting older.

Figure 3. MRIs taken across the mid region of the thigh. Images taken across the mid region of the thigh, showing a sarcopenic muscle (middle) from a sedentary individual with reduced contractile mass, more subcutaneous fat, and infiltration of fat and connective tissue. By contrast, the muscles of a similarly aged master triathlete (bottom) shows little difference to that of a younger athlete (top).

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Delaying and reversing frailty in old age: a systematic review

Published on December 6, 2018 in Generale and Stress. 0 Comments Tags: allenamento., anziani, attività fisica, cura, educazione, forza, fragilità, proteine.

John Travers, Roman Romero-Ortuno, Jade Bailey and Marie-Therese Cooney

Br J Gen Pract 3 December 2018

Abstract

Background Recommendations for routine frailty screening in general practice are increasing as frailty prevalence grows. In England, frailty identification became a contractual requirement in 2017. However, there is little guidance on the most effective and practical interventions once frailty has been identified.

Aim To assess the comparative effectiveness and ease of implementation of frailty interventions in primary care.

Design and setting A systematic review of frailty interventions in primary care.

Method Scientific databases were searched from inception to May 2017 for randomised controlled trials or cohort studies with control groups on primary care frailty interventions. Screening methods, interventions, and outcomes were analysed in included studies. Effectiveness was scored in terms of change of frailty status or frailty indicators and ease of implementation in terms of human resources, marginal costs, and time requirements.

Results A total of 925 studies satisfied search criteria and 46 were included. There were 15 690 participants (median study size was 160 participants). Studies reflected a broad heterogeneity. There were 17 different frailty screening methods. Of the frailty interventions, 23 involved physical activity and other interventions involved health education, nutrition supplementation, home visits, hormone supplementation, and counselling. A significant improvement of frailty status was demonstrated in 71% (n = 10) of studies and of frailty indicators in 69% (n=22) of studies where measured. Interventions with both muscle strength training and protein supplementation were consistently placed highest for effectiveness and ease of implementation.

Conclusion A combination of muscle strength training and protein supplementation was the most effective intervention to delay or reverse frailty and the easiest to implement in primary care. A map of interventions was created that can be used to inform choices for managing frailty.

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