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Doctors fail fitness test, reveals study

Special Correspondent

Medicos need to tighten the belt and practise what they preach

JAIPUR: Strange as it might sound, a study on fitness levels of different professional groups here has found low fitness among doctors by all indicators to judge the state of health, in a clear signal that the medicos need to tighten the belt and practise what they preach to others.

The interesting findings, reported by the Indian Academy of Sports and Fitness Medicine, sound a note of caution for doctors against their inclusion in the rapid slide threatening to constitute a "physically unfit society'' in the country. The Academy has called upon doctors to adopt a medically prescribed exercise schedule and also recommend it to their patients.

The Academy's president, noted Jaipur-based paediatrician Dr. Ashok Gupta, said on Wednesday that the study assessed fitness level of 50 paediatricians in the age group of 40 to 58 years from all over the country. The variables used to measure fitness included VO2 max, resting heart rate (RHR) and body mass index (BMI).

VO2 max is the maximum amount of oxygen one can use in one minute per kg of body weight.

The values found among paediatricians varied between 2.2 and 12.92 ml per kg per minute, which is significantly less than that expected of a healthy adult and much below a sportsperson's.

Dr. Gupta pointed out that VO2 max and RHR indicate cardio-respiratory fitness. The lower the RHR, the better the cardiac reserve and it should be below 70 beats per minute in a healthy individual. "Only 30 per cent of the doctors had a normal RHR varying between 64 and 88 beats per minute,'' he said.

However, the BMI -- a measure of obesity and being overweight -- gave positive results vis-a-vis paediatricians as none of them was found to be obese.

Other areas of fitness such as joints and muscles and mental fitness were not taken up in the study, commissioned as a corollary to a recent executive board meeting of the Indian Academy of Paediatrics.

The study brought into focus an important point that weight control by various means, especially dietary restrictions, does not translate into cardio-respiratory fitness.

"Proper weight and absence of obesity of trunk, though important, should not be the only criteria of fitness,'' said Dr. Gupta.

The Academy, through the study, also cleared a misconception that physical looks depended on the body type one inherits and was not an indicator of any fitness. Dr. Gupta said the three body types -- ectomorph, endomorph, and mesomorph -- depend on the metabolic rates of individuals with a significant bearing on their fitness.

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