translated from Spanish: What are the new physical activity guidelines?

the Department of health of the United States published new guidelines for physical activity, detailing the minimum amount of exercise that required a person to stay healthy and improve your lifestyle. The novelty is that the organization already does not demand exercise over a continuous period, but ensures that even moving in fractions of ten minutes has a positive impact on the health. The guidelines are divided by age, and begin with pre-school aged children. According to the report it is recommended that between three and five years, children carried out activity during the day and prioritize those that invite them to move – or less time tuned to mobile devices or TV.

The new patterns of activity for adults | Image: Health.gov to children and teenagers aged between 6 and 17 years are recommended one hour of moderate to vigorous activity that includes aerobic exercise and muscle and bone strengthening activities at least three times a week. For adults the main directive is to spend less time sitting during the day and to perform some type of activity, because any moderate exercise that can be done on a daily basis (such as climbing stairs or walking few minutes) offers health benefits. Those looking for a more profound development must be between 150 and 300 minutes of activity of moderate intensity a week or between 75 and 150 minutes of intense activity (or all possible combinations). Of course, those who exceed those five hours of exercise weekly will receive even greater benefits. Also highlights the need to make some kind of muscle strengthening exercise at least twice a week. In the case of older adults and pregnant women, the recommendation is to perform 150 minutes of activity provided their conditions permit. The same applies for those who suffer from some kind of disability or reduced capacity.

Percentage of women who do not reach the minimum recommended by country | Image: Who A the vast majority you will not lack too analyze your week to consider if it is complying with these recommendations from health. Argentina, according to a report of the World Health Organization published in the portal The Lancet, is among the 20 countries with the highest level of sedentary lifestyle in the world. In our country, on average, 41.6 per cent of the population does not enough physical activity. Stanford University confirmed that information from its own survey which measured, based on information from applications for mobile phones, the number of average daily steps. From these data the World Health Organization launched a plan to reduce sedentary fifteen percent over the next decade, which proposes the creation of an active society from information campaigns, education and the development of spaces and places for physical activity.

Average number of daily steps by country | Image: Stanford physical inactivity is responsible for the six percent (3.2 million) of the deaths and is one of the main factors of premature death given that increases the risk of noncommunicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer or the diabetes. In this note:

Original source in Spanish