Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Perspective
  • Published:

Exercise: an integral and non-negotiable component of a healthy lifestyle

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 72, pages 1320–1322 (2018)Cite this article

Subjects

The term ‘raison d'être’ represents a useful starting point to underline the importance of exercise to health and well-being across the lifespan. Raison d'être has been variously defined, more commonly as ‘the most important reason or purpose for one’s existence’, or ‘one’s reason for being’. Based on the profound benefits associated with an active lifestyle, I contend that such importance be reserved for habitual physical activity and exercise. Flipped the other way is a similarly powerful message—physical inactivity and a proliferation of sedentary behaviours is associated with increased risk of ill health. Accordingly, one’s ability to remain active across the lifespan is a ‘gift’ of immeasurable value.

Global estimates suggest that 1 in 3 adults do not meet the minimum weekly physical activity level sufficient to provide protective health benefits [1, 2]. As this represents a significant proportion of the global adult population, one could argue that one of the greatest opportunities to optimize global health is to encourage and support an increase in physical activity. Health benefits may be even more profound if an ‘activity-for-all’ approach was employed, that is, not limiting consideration to the engagement of adults in physical activity, but individuals across the lifespan. This simple but potentially powerful notion has been the focus of numerous editorials and perspectives in the academic literature over recent years. Common descriptors for the relationship between physical activity, exercise and health have included a ‘best bet’, a ‘winning approach’, or just as apt, one’s ‘raison d'être’.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. World Health Organization. Global Recommendations on Physical Activity for Health. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization; 2010.

    Google Scholar 

  2. WHO Global Health Observatory. Prevalence of insufficient physical activity among adults. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization; 2016.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Hills AP, Street SJ, Byrne NM. What is old is new again. Adv Food Nutr Res. 2015;75:77–95.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Arena R, Harrington RA, Despres JP. A message from modern-day healthcare to physical activity and fitness: welcome home! Prog Cardiovasc Dis. 2015;57:293–5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Popkin BM. Relationship between shifts in food system dynamics and acceleration of the global nutrition transition. Nutr Rev. 2017;75:73–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Katzmarzyk PT, Mason C. The physical activity transition. J Phys Act Health. 2009;6:269–80.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Caballero B. A nutrition paradox: underweight and obesity in developing countries. N Engl J Med. 2005;352:1514–6.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. World Health Organization. Tackling NCDs: ‘Best buys’ and other recommended interventions for the prevention and control of noncommunicable disease. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization; 2017.

    Google Scholar 

  9. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Physical activity and health: a report of the surgeon general. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion; 1996.

  10. Arena R, McNeil A, Street S, Bond S, Laddu DR, Lavie CJ, Hills AP. Let us talk about moving: reframing the exercise and physical activity discussion. Curr Probl Cardiol. 2018;43:154–79.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Warburton and Bredin. Reflections on physical activity and health: what should we recommend? Can J Cardiol. 2016;32:495–504.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Stewart, et al. Living longer by sitting less and moving more. Curr Opin Cardiol. 2015;30:551–7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Bouchard C, Blair SN, Katzmarzyk PT. Less sitting, more physical activity, or higher fitness? Mayo Clin Proc. 2015;90:1533–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Despres JP. Physical activity, sedentary behaviours, and cardiovascular health: when will cardiorespiratory fitness become a vital sign? Can J Cardiol. 2016;32:505–13.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2018. https://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/basics/pa-health/index.htm. Accessed 18 Apr 2018.

  16. Mechanick JI, Hurley DL, Garvey WT. Adiposity based chronic disease as a new diagnostic term: the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists and American College of Endocrinology Position Statement. Endocr Pract. 2017;23:372–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Arena R, McNeil A, Lavie CJ, Ozemek C, Forman D, Myers J, Laddu DR, Popovic D, Rouleau CR, Campbell TS, Hills AP. Assessing the value of moving more – the integral role of qualified health professionals. Curr Probl Cardiol. 2018;43:138–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Green A, Engstrom C, Friis P. Exercise: an essential evidence-based medicine. MJA. 2018;208:242–3.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Thornton J, Fremont P, Khan K, et al. Physical activity prescription: a critical opportunity to address a modifiable risk factor for the prevention and management of chronic disease: a position statement by the Canadian Academy of Sport and Exercise Medicine. Br J Sports Med. 2016;50:1109–14.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Bauman AE, Reis RS, Sallis JF, Wells JC, Loos RJ, Martin BW. Correlates of physical activity: why are some people physically active and others not? Lancet. 2012;380:258–71.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Reis RS, Salvo D, Ogilvie D, Lambert EV, Goenka S, Brownson RC. Scaling up physical activity interventions worldwide: stepping up to larger and smarter approaches to get people moving. Lancet. 2016;388:1337–48.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sports and Exercise Science, College of Health and Medicine, University of Tasmania, Launceston, Australia

    Andrew P. Hills

Authors
  1. Andrew P. Hills
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Andrew P. Hills.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Hills, A.P. Exercise: an integral and non-negotiable component of a healthy lifestyle. Eur J Clin Nutr 72, 1320–1322 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-018-0254-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-018-0254-3

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links