Doctors and exercise - interesting study

Triathlon Forum
1

Heard on the radio while driving home from our group ride that in a recent survey 68% of docs admitted to have not done any exercise at all in the past year. A bit shocking but I’m not overly surprised. My uncle was a family physician who smoked a pack a day all thru his working career.

Of the 32% who claim to have done exercise in the last year, the question is what did the survey classify as exercise - a round of golf, a weekend tennis game, going for a walk, etc.

Does anyone know what % of the general population participates in what we would consider as regular execise? Would imagine it’s about the same for the docs.

2

And fat Americans want to sue McDonalds because they’re fat! God help us (actually, he/she’s probably given up). This statistic is pathetic. And to think that these doctors, even some non doctors here, want to give me a ration of s*#t because I participate in multiple sports while also following the Atkins eating plan. Man, I’m PISSED!

3

I did some management consulting at a hospital years back. Every day at lunch I would watch the head of the Internal Medicine Department come in to the cafeteria and eat his lunch–a pint of chocolate milk, two Twinkies, and 5 or 6 cigarettes. I could always imagine him telling his patients to eat better, stop smoking, and get more exercise (LOL).

4

  1. Doctors & Exercise: I suspect the numbers are low for two reasons 1) There are still a number of older doctors working who have never worked-out or exrcised at all, and 2) The doctors that I know, have little or no time for exercise - work and family chew up 110% of their time.

  2. As to the second observation: We are indeed living a strange time. More people than ever will run in a running race or do a triathlon or involve themselves in some form of endurance event this year. The participation numbers are staggering. I think in the U.S., they are closing in on one million marathon finishers for this year. The growth over the last 5 - 10 years is massive! Yet our society as a whole contines to become more fat, and less healthy. The reality is that all of the endurance activity participants( Who, one would assume are somewhat to very concerned about their health) still represent a very small proportion of the society as a whole. The unfit overweight 20 - 40 year olds represent a health time bomb that is likly to go off during our life time. If people think the healt-hcare systems are overburdaned and under-funded now, just wait 20 years!