How unhealthy is a sedentary lifestyle? How can you motivate people to take sufficient daily activity? How will the design of public spaces and offices affect people's daily physical activity patterns? Another consideration is how can you avoid the adverse effects of daily physical activity, such as sports injuries? These and other questions were addressed during a conference on 'Physical Activity and Public Health' organized by VU University Medical Center. Hundreds of doctors, movement scientists and policymakers from around the world were in Amsterdam from April 13-16 to share their expertise on this topical theme.
At the conference, which took place from 13 to 16 April, scientists at VU University Medical Center presented the results of research into ways of promoting a healthy and active lifestyle. In this connection, Dr Marijke Chin a Paw discussed the findings of DoiT, and Marieke van Wier spoke on the subject of Alife@Work. Both projects are aimed at fostering physical activity and healthy nutrition among the pupils of VMBO (preparatory secondary vocational education) schools and among workers educated to this level. Further details can be found at the associated websites www.doitproject.com and www.leefjefit.nl. These are just two of the projects being carried out by the leading research group Body@Work TNO VUmc (www.bodyatwork.nl), which focuses on the effects of physical inactivity.
Experts from abroad
During the conference, a large number of foreign experts spoke about
various topics in the field of physical activity, lifestyle and public
health. The American researcher, Michael Pratt, highlighted the enormous
costs incurred by an unhealthy and inactive lifestyle. Prof. Caroline
Finch, an Australian expert in the field of sports injury prevention,
addressed the balance between the pros and cons of physical activity and
sport. Brian Martin, who works for the Swiss government, focused primarily
on translating scientific findings into national or regional policy in the
field of public health.
The enormous interest shown in the conference, which was chaired by Prof.
Willem van Mechelen of VU University Medical Center, indicates that the
theme of 'Physical Activity and Public Health' is a hot topic in scientific
circles too. The key to combating conditions such as obesity, which is
still a growing problem, is more exercise and a healthier lifestyle. If
this problem is ignored, then the percentage of adults with severe obesity
is expected to increase dramatically over the next twenty years.
Note for the editorial staff:
Full details of the conference programme can be found at www.icpaph08.org.
Would you like to get more information on the conference? If so, then
contact Caroline Arps or Jan Spee at VU University Medical Center
Communication Services, +31-(0)20-4443444, fax +31-(0)20-4443450. You can
find details of VU University Medical Center press releases at
www.VUmc.nl.
Background information
VU University Medical Center's core business consists of patient care,
scientific research, and education. Its pivotal points in care and research
are cancer and immunity, the brain, movement, vital functions and
extramural care. Each year 38,000 patients are admitted (including one-day
admissions), well over 300,000 patients visit the Outpatients department
and 40,000 arrive at the Accident and Emergency department. Approximately
2,000 medical students are in training here. Each year, VU University
Medical Center produces around 2,000 scientific publications and reports
based on the scientific research carried out here. This includes the
results of thesis research projects being carried out by 100 PhD
students.
VU University Medical Center is a member of the Dutch Federation of
University Medical Centers (NFU). The NFU is a collaborative venture of the
eight university medical centers (UMCs) in the Netherlands. Its overall
objective is to promote the common interests of the UMCs. The other members
of the NFU are the AMC (Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam), azM
(University Hospital Maastricht), Erasmus MC (University Medical Center
Rotterdam), LUMC (Leiden University Medical Center), UMCG (University
Medical Center Groningen), UMC Utrecht (University Medical Center Utrecht)
and UMC St Radboud (Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center). A total of
60,000 staff are employed by the eight UMCs.