人们对运动与健康之间联系的认识日益加深

一个世纪以前，人们通过扔健身球和做健美操来保持健康. 然后是呼啦圈、振动腰带和有氧运动. People sweated to the oldies with Richard Simmons and felt the burn with Jane Fonda, before dancing their way into Latin-inspired cardio workouts or joining a high-intensity fitness program. 大流行期间，运动自行车蓬勃发展.

人们的锻炼方式随着每一种新趋势而变化, but the idea that physical activity is key to good health is more than a passing fad. 即使是古希腊人，也就是希律狄斯, 被誉为运动医学之父, 和希波克拉底, 现代医学之父——坚信运动是关键, 尽管他们无法就该有多辛苦达成一致.

这个问题直到几千年后才得到解决. 随着科学的不断发展，答案可能会再次改变.

What won't change is that staying active benefits health in myriad ways – including lowering the risk for heart attacks, 中风, 痴呆和几种癌症, 促进心理健康，并有可能逆转2型糖尿病.

"There is an abundance of evidence that being physically active is associated with most health outcomes,”医生说。. 贝瑟妮·巴隆·吉布斯, chair of the department of epidemiology and biostatistics at West Virginia University in Morgantown. "In fact, there are very few outcomes that being physically active does not improve."

工程活动远离我们的生活

保持移动并不总是那么困难. 人们这么做是因为他们不得不这么做.

“一百年前, 人们的生活更加艰难, 所以他们的生活中有很多体育锻炼,吉布斯说. 尽管拥有汽车变得越来越普遍，但还不是常态. 便利设施，如洗衣机, 旋转烘干机和真空吸尘器刚刚开始进入市场.

"People had to walk to the store, they did a lot of manual housework and farm work,吉布斯说. “为了让自己活下去，需要进行更多的活动. 人们在寻找减少工作量的方法. 现在，体育活动是你需要重新加入到你的生活中的东西."

As cars proliferated and electric appliances reduced the amount of manual labor people had to do, “我们到了一个不怎么运动的阶段,吉布斯说. 到了20世纪50年代，“有些人根本不运动. 然后很明显，也许更活跃的人更健康. 但没有数据支持这一观点. Nobody had thought of measuring physical activity, so it was an untapped scientific question."

找到数据来支持它

苏格兰流行病学家. Jerry Morris was the first to look into how physical activity might be linked to heart health. He hypothesized that people in physically active jobs would have lower rates of heart disease than those who were inactive at work. 为了证明这点, in the early 1950s he compared heart disease and mortality rates among conductors and drivers on double-decker buses, 电车和有轨电车，并找到司机, 谁整天坐着, 心脏死亡率是指挥家的两倍, 他们四处走动.

莫里斯之后不久 发表了他的研究，美国流行病学家. 小拉尔夫·帕芬贝格. moved the needle on physical activity research by finding a way to measure how much people were getting. He 制定问卷调查 that proved reliable in assessing the link between physical activity levels and the development of a range of conditions, 包括心脏病, 中风, 2型糖尿病, 高血压, 抑郁与长寿.

It was a far cry from being able to pinpoint how much or how strenuously people should move – something researchers were ultimately able to do with the advent of wearable devices that track a person's movements all day – but it gave researchers a place to start, 吉布斯说.

“自我报告问卷并不完美, 但是他们区分了非常活跃的人和不活跃的人,吉布斯说.

到20世纪70年代, the 美国心脏协会 was beginning to promote increased physical activity for better cardiovascular health, 但直到一系列的大型, epidemiological studies in the 1980s and 1990s that evidence emerged surrounding the type and amount of activity needed to achieve health benefits. 渐增地, studies showed even moderate-intensity activities such as walking and gardening could make a difference, 导致 1995 U.S. 卫生局局长的报告 鼓励人们每天进行30到45分钟的适度运动, 对于那些已经这样做的人, 给自己更大的压力.

然而，该报告指出，60%的美国人.S. 成年人没有做到这一点，25%的人几乎不动.

指导方针出现

在接下来的三十年里，研究人员继续探索这个问题, 关于人们应该运动多少和多久的联邦指导方针也在不断发展, reflecting a deepening understanding of the way physical activity affects health and longevity.

In 2007, 美国运动医学学院, 与美国医学协会和美国医学协会合作.S. 卫生局局长, 发起了一项名为“运动就是药”的运动, calling for people to engage in 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise each week.

现行的联邦指导方针 在美国心脏协会的支持下，继续将150分钟的目标作为最低目标. But they now reflect additional evidence suggesting people aim for up to 300 minutes per week of moderate-intensity exercise, 或者75到150分钟的高强度运动. 每周增加两次中等强度的肌肉锻炼目标, 以及老年人的平衡和预防跌倒训练. 建议儿童每天至少进行一小时的适度体育活动, 每周进行三次剧烈的有氧运动.

The guidelines also reflect a major new development in understanding the importance of movement: Even small amounts of activity throughout the day can make a difference.

A 2022年JAMA内科研究 研究表明，每天增加10分钟的运动可以帮助人们活得更长. And a growing body of evidence suggests it's not just how much people move but how much they sit that matters. 该指南现在不鼓励长线上电子游戏飞禽走兽的久坐行为, a recommendation bolstered by research that emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, 每小时至少运动一次，即使是5分钟，也会有好处.

“离开沙发”

“最重要的公共健康信息就是离开沙发。. 达蒙迅速, an exercise physiologist and associate professor at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

"There is a misperception that you need to be a marathoner to get health benefits from exercise,他说. “但真正的好处比这要早得多. 只要你从沙发上爬起来, 当你从不运动到有些运动时，风险会大大降低. 当你从150分钟运动到300分钟时, 好处仍然会累积，但你在一开始就能从你的钱中得到最大的收获."

自大流行以来, 是什么加速了向虚拟存在的转变, 人们的流动比以往任何时候都要少, 吉布斯说. 目前只有四分之一的男性和五分之一的女性和青少年 获得推荐量 有氧运动和肌肉强化运动，联邦指导方针说.

吉布斯说:“我们已经把体育锻炼从我们的生活中剔除了. “你可以在网上购物，在网上订购食物. 如果你想一整天都不动，你可以做到. I really think that we have a tension between productivity and comfort and all the conveniences of life that allows us, 如果我们不努力的话, 不让体育活动成为我们生活的一部分."

所以不管是快走, 骑健身自行车或者从书架上找简·方达(Jane Fonda)的有氧视频, 最后, 你做什么来保持活跃并不重要, 斯威夫特说. 只要你做点什么.

"My recommendation to people is to do something you like doing and that's easy for you to do,吉布斯说. "We don't need more evidence of whether physical activity is good for you or which type. 我们需要更多的人来做这件事."