Adolphe Abrahams memorial lecture, 1988. Exercise and lifestyle change.

While the evidence for a clustering of health habits is not particularly strong, there are both pedagogic and economic arguments in favour of a multifaceted approach to health education. The present review thus examines the impact of regular physical exercise upon other forms of health behaviour, testing the extent to which an activity programme can be a catalyst of improved lifestyle in both primary and secondary preventive therapy. The conceptual framework of health promotion is examined with particular reference to the models of Skinner, Becker, Fishbein, Triandis and Rokeach.

Anaerobic threshold, muscle volume and hypoxia.

Ventilatory threshold, apparent mechanical efficiency, oxygen debt repayment, heart rate and perceptions of exertion at the ventilatory threshold have been examined in 8 men and 8 women during the performance of four types of exercise (2-leg, 1-leg, arm plus shoulder, and arm ergometry) under normoxic and hypoxic (12% oxygen) conditions. The ventilatory threshold (percentage of task-specific VO2peak at which a disproportionate increase of ventilation begins) was not significantly affected by the sex of the subject, by hypoxia, or by the volume of active muscle involved in the activity, but showed poor reproducibility in small muscle tasks. The apparent mechanical efficiency in 2-leg ergometry was increased from 25.

Cardiorespiratory fitness in highly active versus inactive paraplegics.

Maximum and submaximum arm crank exercise performances were assessed in male paraplegics (PARA) with the purpose of comparing cardiovascular responses among individuals of highly active (A, N = 15) vs inactive (I, N = 15) lifestyles. The A PARAs (average VO2 peak during arm cranking 2.24 l.

Chlordiazepoxide and the drinking of water by rats: effects of shock and other suppressive measures.

The effects of chlordiazepoxide (5 and 10 mg/kg) on fluid consumption in water deprived rats were assessed. Drinking was inhibited to approximately equal extents by a water preload, by d-amphetamine (1.5 mg/kg), by neophobia and by shock at mild (0.

Does suggestibility modify acute reactions to passive cigarette smoke exposure?

The influence of suggestibility on responses to passive cigarette smoke exposure was tested in a group of 24 healthy adult nonasthmatic nonsmokers and 16 asthmatic nonsmokers. Sixty-five-min exposures to air and to moderate (17 ppm carbon monoxide) and heavy (31 ppm carbon monoxide) concentrations of machine-produced cigarette smoke were carried out according to a design that permitted all six permutations of the three treatments to be equally represented. Nonasthmatic subjects exercised intermittently at an intensity inducing a respiratory ventilation of 43.

Peak oxygen intake and hypoxia: influence of physical fitness.

Eight men and eight women each performed peak oxygen intake tests on a cycle ergometer breathing ambient air and a mixture of 12% oxygen in nitrogen (equivalent to an altitude of 4400 m) in the two experiments. Hypoxia induced an average 28% decrease of peak oxygen intake, with a somewhat smaller decrease of power output. There were also small decreases in peak heart rate, peak blood pressure, peak ventilation, and peak blood lactate concentration.

Geriatric benefits of exercise as an adult.

Associations between habitual physical activity and health were studied by retrospective questioning of 674 retirees aged 65-90. Within the limitations of the study (a volunteer sample and a simple questionnaire index of physical activity), the data show a decrease of activity in men, but not in women, from age 50 to the retirement years. The main factors influencing disability, and therefore health-care costs, were age (disability greater in older subjects) and sex (disability greater in women than in men).

Does Cardiac Rehabilitation After Myocardial Infarction Favorably.

In brief: This review article discusses the limitations of 14 randomized controlled trials of exercise rehabilitation for patients who had sustained a myocardial infarction. Seven of nine major trials involved 3,222 patients, whose conditions were followed for one to nine years; total mortality was reduced by 20% to 50% in these studies. Although pooling this information to obtain statistical significance is difficult, the results are compatible with a substantial therapeutic benefit.

Muscle mass as a factor limiting physical work.

Maximal exercise has been performed by eight men and eight women, using four types of ergometer (2-leg, 1-leg, arm + shoulder, and arm) while breathing room air and while breathing 12% O2. Results have been related to anthropometric estimates of muscle mass in the active limbs. Although significant sex differences of O2 transfer and power output are shown, the sex-specific aerobic performance was roughly proportional to active muscle volume (both when comparing individuals on a given type of ergometer and when comparing average scores of the several types of ergometer).

Sports medicine and the wheelchair athlete.

International competitions for the wheelchair-confined are now a major feature of the world of sport. They are helpful in improving both mood state and physiological function, while improving long term prognosis. Immediate medical problems are much as in other types of competition, but there are also specific problems (bladder infections, pressure sores, intolerance of environmental extremes, and injuries related to wheelchair use).

PAR-Q, Canadian Home Fitness Test and exercise screening alternatives.

Procedures for the preliminary screening of asymptomatic adults who wish to exercise are reviewed with particular reference to experience gained through the mass use of the physical activity readiness questionnaire (PAR-Q) and the Canadian Home Fitness Test (CHFT). It is argued that both a brief submaximal exercise test and a subsequent moderate increase of habitual activity are extremely safe tactics to recommend to a symptom-free adult. There are some useful minor modifications which could be made to the PAR-Q instrument, but its sensitivity and specificity relative to such criteria as medical examination, hypertension, CHFT completion and exercise-induced ECG abnormalities compare favourably with alternative self-administered procedures.

Residual volume as a tool in body fat prediction.

Possible methods of estimating residual volume for the prediction of body fat have been compared in young and healthy adults, with particular reference to the potential of a rapid helium equilibration method. In the first experiment, 5 women and 5 men performed nitrogen elimination, oxygen dilution and helium equilibration tests; scores for the helium test were higher than for the other two methods, but lay between the predictions made by Bass in 1964 and by Wilmore in 1969 and the values predicted by the equation of Goldman and Becklake in 1959. However, estimates of body density and body fat, based on residual volumes obtained from the prediction equations, did not differ significantly from those obtained directly by helium equilibration.

Valproate enhances fluid consumption suppressed by shock or neophobia, but not by partial satiation or d-amphetamine, in rats.

The effects of sodium valproate (100 and 300 mg/kg) on fluid consumption in water deprived rats were assessed. Drinking was inhibited to approximately equal extents by a water pre-load, by d-amphetamine (1.5 mg/kg), by neophobia and by shock at mild (0.