Encourage everyday exercise, not sporting elites

The Olympics are all very well, but it takes more than publicity to get spectators out of their seats

IF EXERCISE came in capsule form, we would be only too eager to pop our keep-fit pills. Even a modest dose can significantly extend our lives and ward off killer diseases (see "The workout pill: Why exercise is the best medicine"). As it is, though, it's a difficult pill to swallow. We all know physical activity is important, yet many of us don't do anything like enough of it.

Keep-fit enthusiasts hope the examples set by champion athletes will encourage us to change our ways. London 2012 was to be the first Olympics to test this proposition: its organising committee promised that it would encourage 2 million people to become more active. But this pledge has been sidelined: a missed opportunity to find out how spectators can be persuaded to become participants.

It seems implausible that the increased visibility of role models alone will stir many of us from our seats. The commonest excuse for not exercising is that we just don't have the time. But this is born of the idea that exercise must be conducted at a particular time and, often, in a specific place. Perhaps this notion takes hold at school, where exercise is often wholly distinct from academic lessons - and frequently equated with competitive sport, as the UK government is keen to do. But this approach can easily create the impression that exercise is best reserved for the naturally athletic, discouraging the less adept.

If so, what is needed is less emphasis on creating sporting superstars and more on making sure that all school kids are given options for keeping fit in ways that mesh with their lives as well as their timetables. In that vein, it would help greatly to halt the pernicious redevelopment of playing fields and commons.

Adults, too, could use more guidance on integrating physical activity into their daily routines. Fitness regimens are built around gyms, clubs and classes. Many enjoy the sociability these bring, but others find this degree of organisation off-putting. For these people, we should maximise the scope for everyday activity: by creating more traffic-free urban spaces where people can walk freely, for example. Street activities such as cycling, jogging, skateboarding and parkour should be encouraged.

It would help, too, if we could dissociate exercise from weight loss. Regular exercisers can expect to shed a few pounds, all else being equal, but if that's the sole measure of success, it, too, often leads to a sense of failure. And the health implications of fitness are distinct from those of fatness (JAMA, doi.org/d6hjtp). So improved fitness should be an objective in itself.

Alas, fitness is less readily apparent than weight. Personal bests are all very well, but they take us back to the track and treadmill. Self-quantification technology, which unobtrusively monitors your daily movements, provides a solution. Dedicated dieters count their calories; perhaps we should count our footsteps the same way (New Scientist, 4 August, p 40).

And finally, there's the role of medicine. Relatively few family doctors regard lack of physical fitness as worthy of remediation: 40 per cent of US primary care doctors do not themselves meet 2008 federal guidelines on physical activity. Encouraging them to "prescribe" exercise more often could reap huge rewards.

There is, of course, no keep-fit pill, and working out is not really a wonder drug. Treating it like one might work wonders, though.

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