10,000 reasons to step out- : Exercise patterns and pedometer evaluation of consultant anaesthetists

Major international bodies recommend that adults should accumulate at least 30 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity every day. Ten thousand steps a day has been found to approximate 30 minutes of exercise. A questionnaire regarding exercise patterns was sent to all (584) Victorian consult...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Anaesthesia and intensive care 2006-06, Vol.34 (3), p.347-352
Main Authors: SOH, M, DEAM, R. K, KLUGER, R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Aged
Anesthesia
Anesthesia. Intensive care medicine. Transfusions. Cell therapy and gene therapy
Anesthesiology
Biological and medical sciences
Exercise
Female
Health Behavior
Humans
Male
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Physical Fitness
Surveys and Questionnaires
Walking
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Summary:Major international bodies recommend that adults should accumulate at least 30 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity every day. Ten thousand steps a day has been found to approximate 30 minutes of exercise. A questionnaire regarding exercise patterns was sent to all (584) Victorian consultant anaesthetists, and 30 consultants wore a pedometer for one week, during working hours only. The questionnaire response rate was 59.4% (347). Of these respondents, 58% indicated that they had a formal exercise program. There were no significant differences between people with a set exercise program and those without, with respect to age, gender, working hours or smoking. Those with a set exercise program exercised a median of four times per week and the commonest exercise listed was gymnasium attendance (40%). The main reasons cited for having a regular exercise program were maintenance of physical health (77%), mental health (71%) and weight control (35%). The main reasons for not having an exercise program were fatigue (40%), too busy (70%), family commitments (67%) or just not interested (18%). The overall median steps per day for the pedometer group was 4770 with a range of 1667 to 9630, fitting into the classification of 'sedentary'. In summary this study has shown that a significant number of anaesthetists do not achieve adequate physical activity in or out of working hours and has identified some reasons for this behaviour. This will hopefully provide motivation and information for the implementation of useful strategies to increase the level of physical activity performed by anaesthetists.
ISSN:0310-057X
1448-0271
DOI:10.1177/0310057x0603400315