Prescribing Exercise as an Alternative Treatment for Ageing Populations of the 21st Century.
The process of ageing represents physical, psychological and social change, which makes the risks associated with ageing multi-faceted. Age-related deleterious changes include physiological decline in cardiovascular system, a psychological cognitive decline, social isolation, and reduced quality of life. These effects also prompt manifestation of several chronic diseases including cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes and cancer, which are major causes of mortality.
Given that physical inactivity is now an established risk factor for ageing and age related chronic diseases, the role of prescribing structured exercise or unstructured physical activity for older populations has become increasingly important to reverse those risks. Compared with sedentary or physically inactive older population, those who exercise regularly enjoy an improved quality of life and reduced health risks. However, despite the incontrovertible evidence from observational and randomised controlled trials about the exercise role as primary and secondary prevention of CVD and mortality risks, prescribing exercise as a preventative treatment is still under-utilised by health systems across the world.
In comparison to a drug treatment, exercise is a less costly and a more effective treatment for several age-related health conditions including diabetes, cancer, arthritis, and cardiorespiratory diseases. The findings reported either better effectiveness or no difference for exercise interventions compared with drug treatments in three out of four mortality outcomes, which included secondary prevention of coronary heart disease, rehabilitation of stroke, treatment of heart failure, and prevention of diabetes.
Obes Res Open J. 2016; 3(1): e1-e2. doi: 10.17140/OROJ-3-e007
