A Little Nudge From the Doc Can Be Motivating

Less biased than any spouse, more authoritative than most friends, our family doctor should be the most persuasive health nag in our lives. A mere 10 to 20 minutes of advice, given several times a year, is enough to bump many adults off the couch and onto the walking path, into the pool or onto a bike--and significantly improve their fitness level, new research shows.

As part of a large, ongoing experiment called the Activity Counseling Trial, researchers tracked exercise habits among 874 adults, ages 35 to 75, who got counseling from their doctors on exercise. The men and women were mostly sedentary before the program. Yet after two years, 20% of them were meeting the government’s recommended goal for physical activity: 30 minutes of moderate to intense exercise five days a week.

Many of these newly active people needed no more than a few minutes of counseling from a doctor a few times a year for motivation. A more intensive counseling program--including behavioral advice from a health educator, telephone follow-up and a motivational videotape, among other things--prompted even greater levels of fitness than the doctors’ advice alone, at least in women. The extra counseling did not benefit men any more than did a few words from their doctor. The trial offers among the best evidence to date of just how powerful a doctor’s words can be when it comes to changing lifestyle. According to government figures, only about 20% of adults aged 18 and older ctive enough to get significant health benefits from exercise, such as lowered blood pressure, reduced risk of diabetes and heart disease. A tap on the shoulder from their doctors, ACT researchers say, would change that in a hurry.