Darren Capalb welcomed attendees to today's seminar on the new importance of physical activity. The seminar aimed to highlight compelling evidence on the health benefits of exercise and dangers of sedentary lifestyles. It also discussed how people can stay motivated to be physically active. Data was presented showing that most Australians do not get sufficient physical activity and spend much of their day sitting, and that sedentary lifestyles are linked to increased health risks like insulin resistance and higher cholesterol. The seminar emphasized that regular physical activity can improve health and reduce risks of chronic diseases.

1. Darren J. Capalb
PhD(c), B.H.Sc.(Hons, H1), & B. Spt. & Rec.Mgmt.
I would like to take this opportunity
to thank everyone for attending
today 'seminar: ‘The new
importance of physical activity’

2. An overview of today’s seminar
I am personally delighted to welcome everyone!
The main purpose of today’s seminar is to highlight the
compelling scientific evidence:
Seven facts you might not know about exercise by
(Schardt, 2009).
i. Discuss the health benefits derived from physical
activity per se;
ii. The dangers of sedentary lifestyles;
How people can stay motivated?

3. “No man has the right to be an
amateur in the matter of physical
training. It is a shame for a man
to grow old without seeing the
beauty and strength of which his
body is capable.”
Socrates

4. • “Teach us to live that we may
dread unnecessary time in bed.
Get people up and we may save
• Our patients from an early
grave”(Asher, 1947, p.968)
(MD).

5. Are Australians physically
active?
• Almost 60% of people do not undertake
sufficient physical activity to confer a
health benefits, and more than 80% spend
more than three hours each day sitting
during their leisure time (AIHW, 2012).
• 60% of people are either overweight or
obese, and higher rates of obesity are found
in those aged 55–64 (AIHW, 2013).

6. Are Australian’s sedentary?
• The proportions of those who are sedentary
or do low levels of exercise have increased
from 67% in 1995 to 73% in 2007–08 (ABS
1997; ABS 2009a).
• Costs for health services for individual chronic conditions
in 2004–05 were in excess of $6.5 billion (AIHW 2011a),
and for condition groups that contain chronic diseases (for
example, arthritis in the musculoskeletal group), amounted
to well over $13 billion (AIHW 2010a).

7. Sedentary lifestyles defined
• A sedentary lifestyle includes extended periods of sitting, reading,
driving, watching television and computer use, for much of the day,
with little or no physical activity. Being sedentary is not exclusive to
being at home. Many working people are considered to have sedentary
jobs; a recent survey showed that most time spent at work was
sedentary (77%) (Medibank 2009).
• Sedentariness would be more common in certain types of jobs than
others; for example,
• an officer worker would be far more likely to be sedentary than a
tradesperson. Travelling between work, home and school can also be
sedentary depending on the mode of travel. Sitting in a car, riding in a
bus or a train are all sedentary activities, while riding a bike or walking
for transport are not.

8. Why sedentary lifestyles leads to
early mortality?
In 20 healthy subjects (14 men, 6
women) at baseline and during 5 days
of bed rest.
Bed rest led to a 67% increase in the
insulin response to glucose loading
(P0.001) suggesting increased insulin
resistance and produced increases in
total cholesterol and triglycerides
(Hamburg et al., 2007).

9. Why physical activity is
important
• There is a growing body of evidence that regular
physical activity can slow down and even reverse
much of the decline in physical functioning due to
age (ACSM, 2009). Further, it can reduce the risk of
developing numerous chronic conditions and diseases
including premature death, cardiovascular disease,
stroke hypertension, type 2 diabetes mellitus,
osteoporosis, obesity, colon cancer, breast cancer,
cognitive impairment, anxiety, and depression (ABS,
2009b; AIHW, 2010; ACSM, 2009; Chodzko-Zajko
et al., 2009; WHO, 2009).

12. Examples of Moderate Exercise

13. Examples of Vigorous Exercise

20. Ride to work Get off a stop early
Active meetings

23. Thank you very much for your
attention and input! 