UK Doctors Ignoring Benefits of Exercise

Doctors in the United Kingdom are not telling their patients about the benefits of exercise, to their detriment, according to a new study conducted by researchers from University College London, and published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. The problem begins, the study states, with the medical schools which fail to provide adequate teaching on exercise in the physicians’ undergraduate courses. The authors wrote that such teaching was “sparse or non-existent” and that half of medical students were not being taught the advantages of exercise.

The authors of the study note that the “largely sedentary” lifestyle of people in the UK is one of the leading causes of chronic disease. The researchers, led by Richard Weiler, M.D., a sports and exercise medicine consultant at University College, London, NHS Foundation Trust, revealed that only half of the 31 medical schools taught the doctors-to-be about existing physical activity guidance from the chief medical officer.

Weiler noted that specific teaching on exercise was not included at all in the undergraduate courses of five British medical schools. Students spent 109 hours, on average, learning about pharmacology, while a “negligible” 4.2 hours were spent on physical activity.

Terming the disquieting omission of teaching on exercise for students in medical schools as “lunacy, ” Weiler said, “We throw money at teaching them about drugs but not about how to prevent and treat chronic disease through exercise.” The study was reported by Stephen Adams in the July 28 news release in The Telegraph.