Increasing Physical Activity

T. B.Summer 2004

HSCI 586Dr. Alemi

What happened to my routine? Previous routine of 45 minutes of aerobic

exercise at least 5 times per week maintained for 10 years!

Habit of formal exercise faded away when: Enrolled in graduate studies Fall 2002. Job responsibilities lead to increased hours spent

at work.

A look at then…..TIME ACTIVITY7:00

8:00 Commute to work

9:00

10:00

11:00

12:00 Work

13:00

14:00

15:00

16:00

17:00Commute home

18:00 Exercise - aerobic plus strength

19:00

20:00

21:00Watch television, read, relax

22:00

23:00 Go to bed

Personal/social obligations (pay bills, phone friends, laundry,read mail, etc)

Prepare dinner, prepare lunch for next day

Wake up, breakfast, shower and dress for work

DAY/TIME ACTIVITYWed Gardening1730

Mon&Thur Take out trash2100

Wed Laundry2200

Tue Dinner with friends1900-2030

Mon Work on unfinished work projects1900-2030

Fri Dinner, movie/theatre with friends1930-2300

Daily Routine

Weekly routines

• A lot of control over evening hours

• Usually spent only 8 hours at work

• Regular exercise was more easily accomplished

A look at now…..Daily Routine

Weekly routines

• Increased hours spent at work leaves less available hours in evening

• Most free hours are spent doing school work

• Leaving early from work for school on Wed leads to using personal time to finish work projects at home

TIME ACTIVITY7:00

8:00 Commute to work

9:00

10:00

11:00

12:00 Work

13:00

14:00

15:00

16:00

17:00

18:00

19:00

20:00Study, class assignments

21:00

22:00 Watch television, read, relax

23:00 Go to bed

Prepare dinner, prepare lunch for next day

Wake up, breakfast, shower and dress for work

DAY/TIME ACTIVITYWed Attend HSCI 707

1600-2200

Mon&Thur Take out trash2100

Fri Laundry2200

Tue Dinner with friends1900-2030

Mon Work on unfinished work projects1900-2030

Thur1900-2000

Personal/social obligations (pay bills, phone friends, read mail)

Conclusions

Motivation or the desire to exercise is the same now as it was then

What changed was my environment: More time spent at work Time demands of graduate program

Time spent in class Time spent doing assignments

Less available time to exercise

Reasons to change Health benefits of regular exercise:

Reduces risk of developing heart disease Lowers blood pressure Reduces risk for diabetes Reduces risk for osteoporosis Reduces risk for colon and breast cancer Improves mood and mental functioning Maintains healthy weight

Personal reasons: To maintain muscle mass and build physical endurance

despite challenges of the normal aging process.

I need some help!

Solicited a colleague at work to be involved in my quest for personal improvement (process owner), to assist me to: Define my goals for increasing physical activity. Streamline work processes to decrease time

spent at work. Identify opportunities in daily schedule to

incorporate increased physical activity. Support and celebrate my successes.

How much physical activity?

Time constraints call for flexibility in methods used to improve physical fitness.

Exclusive reliance in the past on aerobic exercise to meet exercise needs may not be successful with today’s schedule.

With process owner: Research physical benefits of exercise and

determine desired level of physical activity. Define goals for physical activity.

Goals for Increasing Physical Activity Successful Increase in Physical Activity will

be measured by: Meet daily goal:

Aerobic exercise of at least 30 minutes per day, or Accumulate at least 8500 steps using a pedometer

Meet weekly goal: Aerobic exercise of at least 1 ½ hours per week

The term “exercise” is used to describe either goals for aerobic exercise or steps taken.

What changes can I make?

Wear pedometer daily to assess goal of 8500 steps (or 4 miles).

Move office from 3rd Floor to 12th Floor. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Arrive at work 30 minutes earlier (before

clinic operations begin) to accomplish tasks/projects without interruptions.

Leave work at 5 PM (1 hour earlier), unless work is required to meet imminent deadline.

Method

Measure baseline or pre-implementation data for 1 week

Implement proposed changes for following 3 weeks.

Post weekly results to storyboard and display on office wall.

Results: Control Chart for Duration of Missed Exercise

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27

Day

Dura

tion m

issed e

xerc

ise

UCL post intervention Pre intervention

Goal for Weekly Aerobic Exercise

Goal for Aerobic Exercise

0

50

100

150

200

1 2 3 4

Weeks

Min

ute

s o

f A

ero

bic

E

xerc

ise

Threshold

Conclusions

Performance improvement processes can be used successfully to facilitate lifestyle changes.

Time-between control charts are very useful in evaluating the success of systemic changes on patterns of an exercise program.

Plans to maintain the gain

Continue to monitor daily exercise for 3 months (“refreezing” of systemic change).

Re-evaluate goals for exercise September 30 Consider setting the bar higher!

Revisit exercise program when finished with graduate program at the end of the year.