Doctor's Life Magazine, Tampa Bay Doctor's Life Tampa Bay Vol. 1 Issue 6, 2013 | Page 12

Fit Corner

Fit Doctors More Likely to
Encourage Patients to Exercise

FIT MEDICAL STUDENTS ARE MORE LIKELY TO PRESCRIBE
PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AS PHYSICIANS, STUDY SAYS

W

hen it comes to exercise, physicians preach what they practice. According to research
presented today at the American College of Sports Medicine’s 58th Annual Meeting and
2nd World Congress on Exercise is Medicine®, active, healthy medical students are more likely
to prescribe physical activity in their future practices.
From 2005 to 2010, a research team led by Felipe Lobelo,
M.D., Ph.D., assessed objective markers of cardiometabolic
health, including cardiorespiratory fitness and attitudes
on physical activity counseling, in 577 freshman medical
students in Colombia. Eighty percent of students reported
believing physical activity counseling to be highly relevant in
their future clinical practice.
Interestingly, many of the students who said exercise
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counseling was highly relevant were fit themselves. They
were 1.7 times more likely to exhibit healthy levels of
cardiorespiratory fitness and 3.2 times more likely to have
normal triglycerides levels than their peers who don’t believe
physical activity counseling will be relevant. Students who
were healthy, met the current U.S. physical activity guidelines
and had normal cholesterol levels were also more likely
to strongly agree with the concept that an active doctor’s

Doctor’s Life Tampa Bay

Issue 6, 2013