Via practica 4/2015

Let`s motivate patients to move: The importance of physical activity for health, prevention and treatment of obesity

Motion, one of the basic attributes of life, is instrumental for fulfilling the basic vital needs as well as a means of adaptation to the everchanging environment. Skeletal muscle, the organ of motion, is the largest organ in human body: under physiological circumstances, muscles represent 30-40 % of body weight. The problem is that thanks to the technical progress and the omnipresent desire to set ourselves free from the physically demanding work, Homo sapiens finally succeeded in efficiently minimalizing his/her physical activity. Consequences? A sedentary way of life has a very negative impact on health; not only it significantly contributes to the pandemy of obesity but it accelerates the onset of obesity-associated diseases such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular, neurodegenerative or specific oncologic diseases. The large epidemiological as well as intervention trials unanimously show that regular physical activity is a very effective physiological tool in the prevention and treatment of obesity and obesity-associated health risks. The aim of this work is to describe mechanisms related to the exercise-induced adaptive response and to point at the relationships between obesity, physical activity & fitness.

Keywords: exercise and obesity, physical activity, skeletal muscle, physical fitness, body composition.