The green prescription study: a randomized controlled trial of written exercise advice provided by general practitioners.

There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine whether written advice from general practitioners increases physical activity among sedentary people more than verbal advice alone. Sedentary patients (n = 456) received verbal advice on increasing physical activity and were then randomized to an exercise prescription (green prescription) group or a verbal advice group. The number of people engaging in any recreational physical activity at 6 weeks increased substantially, but significantly more so in the green prescription group. Also, more participants in the green prescription group increased their activity over the period. A written goal-oriented exercise prescription, in addition to verbal advice, is a useful tool for general practitioners in motivating their parents to increase physical activity.

Related collections

Most cited references 16

Record: found
Abstract: not found
Article: not found

Editorial

Lawrence W. Green (1974)

0 comments Cited 108 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Physical activity, all-cause mortality, and longevity of college alumni.

Ralph Paffenbarger, Robert Hyde, Alvin L. Wing … (1986)

We examined the physical activity and other life-style characteristics of 16,936 Harvard alumni, aged 35 to 74, for relations to rates of mortality from all causes and for influences on length of life. A total of 1413 alumni died during 12 to 16 years of follow-up (1962 to 1978). Exercise reported as walking, stair climbing, and sports play related inversely to total mortality, primarily to death due to cardiovascular or respiratory causes. Death rates declined steadily as energy expended on such activity increased from less than 500 to 3500 kcal per week, beyond which rates increased slightly. Rates were one quarter to one third lower among alumni expending 2000 or more kcal during exercise per week than among less active men. With or without consideration of hypertension, cigarette smoking, extremes or gains in body weight, or early parental death, alumni mortality rates were significantly lower among the physically active. Relative risks of death for individuals were highest among cigarette smokers and men with hypertension, and attributable risks in the community were highest among smokers and sedentary men. By the age of 80, the amount of additional life attributable to adequate exercise, as compared with sedentariness, was one to more than two years.