news
Moving argument
Heart Foundation report
states Australians need more
physical activity to maintain
their good health.
T
he Heart Foundation has urged
Australians to move more and
sit less, following the release of
its report highlighting the importance of
physical activity as a factor in the prevention
and management of cardiovascular disease.
Former chair of the Heart Foundation
Physical Activity Advisory Committee and
co-director of the Institute for Physical
Activity and Nutrition at Deakin University,
professor Jo Salmon, said technological
and transport advances were resulting in
unprecedented levels of sedentary behaviour.
Salmon said: “In Australia, the likelihood
of being highly active decreases as adults
get older, while sedentary behaviour levels
increase with age from 18 years.”
In the report, Physical activity and
cardiovascular disease, Salmon stated that
activity levels are influenced by a range of
socioeconomic and cultural factors.
The research revealed that 46 per
cent of Australian adults living in major
cities are likely to meet physical activity
recommendations. That outstrips their
counterparts in regional and remote areas
(about 38 per cent of inner regional adults
meet the recommendations, about 39 per
cent of outer regional adults make it, and
just under a third of remote adults).
As household income or education level
went up, so did the prevalence of meeting
physical activity recommendations.
Heart Foundation chief medical adviser
professor Garry Jennings said physical
inactivity contributed to an estimated
14,000 deaths annually and added it
was surprising that successive Australian
governments had not adopted measures
promoting active lives.
“To help guide the way, the Heart
Foundation released Blueprint for an Active
Australia, which was a comprehensive
compendium of 13 action areas that would
boost our low rates of physical activity,”
Jennings said. “We also convened a
national physical activity consensus forum
at Parliament House last year to highlight
the key elements that should underpin a
national action plan.” ■
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