| Time to Double Up! | |
Still just getting in a half hour of exercise a day? Research shows it’s time to double up on your exercise quota. Get ready to up the ante and work up to working out a full hour each day, because experts say for a healthier life… it’s a 60 minute daily minimum!
The Institute of Medicine, part of the National Academy of Sciences, has doubled its exercise recommendations, coinciding with current recommendations of fat, protein and carbohydrate intake. For the first time, the Institute added an exercise recommendation to its dietary advice.
"To reduce some of the main killers of America we will have to increase the level of physical activity," said Dr. Benjamin Caballero, director of the Center for Human Nutrition at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, in a news release.
The good news is, the recommended amount of exercise does not necessarily mean you have to spend your 60 minutes slaving away on the stair climber. The key is to work in the hour of moderate physical activity each day such as walking, swimming, bicycling or golfing without a cart. The hour chunk of activity is twice as much as the previous government guidance, which was recommended by the Surgeon General in 1996.
Lupton said the committee recognizes that the lifestyles of many people might make this goal seem difficult to achieve. But Caballero noted that the exercise can be broken up and spread throughout the day.
In addition to recommending an hour of exercise daily for adults, the same amount was suggested for youngsters, a timely suggestion considering the recent media coverage and public concern about the growing issue of childhood obesity.
The National Academy of Sciences is an independent organization chartered by Congress to provide guidance to the government in scientific issues.
