November 27, 2018 – New Physical Activity Guidelines

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:04 — 1.5MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Anchor lead: The federal government has released new physical activity guidelines for Americans, Elizabeth Tracey reports

You should aim for 150 minutes per week of moderate intensity physical activity per week, the newly undated guidelines from the department of health and human services state. While that recommendation is the same as the previous iteration, Michael Blaha, a preventive cardiologist at Johns Hopkins, notes that there are a few changes.

Blaha: While most things haven’t changed there’s been a few new focal points that are I think worth mentioning. First is an emphasis on physical activity in children, where we know obesity is a major problem. Second of all there’s more emphasis on activity throughout the day. With more moving and less sitting, and less of an emphasis on just one or two bouts of exercise. And also the exercise guidelines make more of an effort now to point out all of the benefits of exercise, not just on cardiovascular disease but on cognition, on cancer, the musculoskeletal system.  :31

Blaha notes that anything that gets you moving counts. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.