5/21/2008

Record 150,000+ Students Accept Governor’s Fitness Challenge Surgeon General calls on doctors to join Council’s efforts promoting fitness – more than 2,000 California doctors pledge their support

Sacramento, Calif. – Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports Chairman Jake Steinfeld today announced that the Council has surpassed its goal of motivating 150,000 k-12 students to accept the Governor’s Fitness Challenge of being active 30-60 minutes a day, at least 3 days a week for a month. This number compares to 70,000 California participants last year, and is nearly twice the amount of people that participated nationally in a similar effort led by the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.

Building on the success of the Governor’s Fitness Challenge which has primarily targeted children, Steinfeld and Acting Surgeon General Rear Admiral Steven K. Galson called upon California doctors to join the Council’s efforts and prescribe exercise to children and adults who would benefit from being more physically active.

“I’m thrilled that more than 150,000 California students have accepted my challenge and are exercising regularly. I’ve always believed that exercise leads to healthy bodies and healthy minds,” said Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. “I hope children and adults across the state continue to take the Fitness Challenge, so that all Californians can feel the benefits of getting fit and leading a healthy lifestyle.”

“Physical fitness and health promotion are not Republican or Democratic issues, they are California issues,” said Steinfeld. “I want to applaud the more than 150,000 students and 5,000 teachers who took the Governor’s Fitness Challenge this year and I want to invite all Californians – children, educators, doctors and others – to join our team and help California become the nation’s fitness state.”

“I congratulate California for taking the lead in signing up health care professionals to prescribe exercise,” said acting U.S. Surgeon General Rear Admiral Steven K. Galson, M.D., M.P.H. “This type of preventative medicine is important to the long-term health of California and the nation.”

Exercise is Medicine is a national initiative that was launched last November by the American Medical Association (AMA) and the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) with support from the California Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. Today, the Governor’s Council announced that more than 2,000 California doctors, many of them affiliated with Kaiser Permanente’s Southern California Permanente Medical Group, have pledged their support for Exercise is Medicine.

“There is overwhelming evidence for the benefits of exercise in both the treatment and prevention of chronic disease,” said Robert E. Sallis, M.D., ACSM president. “I urge California physicians to log on to www.CalGovCouncil.org/ExerciseIsMedicine to sign up and support the program by prescribing exercise to their patients. Exercise really is a wonderful medicine… and it’s FREE!”

A 2007 survey conducted by ACSM found that nearly two-thirds of patients (65%) would be more interested in exercising to stay healthy if advised by their doctor and given additional resources. Four out of 10 physicians (41%) talk to their patients about the importance of exercise, but don’t always offer suggestions on the best ways to be physically active. Patients (25%) look to their doctor first for advice on exercise and physical activity. They turn next to fitness and health web sites (24%).

Physical inactivity is a fast-growing public health problem in this country and contributes to a variety of chronic diseases and health complications, including obesity, coronary artery disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer, depression and anxiety, arthritis and osteoporosis.

In addition to encouraging California doctors to join the Council’s efforts, the Council also announced a new fitness challenge that calls on the 32,000 plus employees at the California Health and Human Services Agency to be physically active for a month. This new challenge is a pilot that the Council hopes to extend to all state employees next year.

Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports
A non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to promoting physical activity for all Californians with an emphasis on children and youth. Governor Schwarzenegger is the Honorary Chairman and Council members include Chairman Jake Steinfeld, Vice Chairman Peter Vidmar, and California sports legends such as Jerry Rice, Michelle Kwan, Tony Hawk, Julie Foudy, Lisa Fernandez, Lisa Leslie, Misty May-Treanor, Jack LaLanne and John Wooden. For more information visit www.CalGovCouncil.org