Physical activity and health: Atherosclerotic, metabolic, and hypertensive diseases

A sedentary lifestyle is a risk factor for a number of diseases that become more prevalent with age in both genders. In contrast, regular physical activity per: formed in a variety of circumstances is proving to be a health-related behavior with favorable consequences on commonly recognized health outcomes. This paper presents an overview of the evidence for the negative effects of sedentarism and the positive influences of a physically active lifestyle on atherosclerotic, metabolic, and hypertensive diseases. As the body of data on this topic has grown considerably over the last decade, it will not be possible to review all aspects of the relationships between physical activity or inactivity and the relevant health outcomes. Only the main dimensions of the problems will be emphasized in this short document. These topics were reviewed in considerably more detail in the proceedings of the 1992 Toronto International Consensus Symposium on Physical Activity, Fitness, and Health (Bouchard, Shephard, & Stephens, 1994) to which the interested reader is referred for a more comprehensive expose.