Question

For the middle-aged adult, exercise can reduce the risk of various health problems. Choose three health issues that regular physical exercise and activity can help prevent and manage. Discuss the prevalence of each of these health problems in society today. Describe measures that you would take as a nurse to assist clients with health promotion measures to incorporate exercise and physical activity into their lives. Include the kind of activities you would recommend, the amount of exercise, and the approach you would use to gain cooperation from the client. Support your response with evidence-based literature.

Your individual response should have a 1. minimum of 300 words excluding your reference citation 2. need to use two peer-reviewed/scholarly resources to support your response 3. at least one in-intext citation

Answer 1

The three health issues I have chosen all can be helped by physical exercise and activity and without controlling these issues can create so many more. These issues are important to me because they all run in my family.

High blood pressure

Type 2 diabetes

Obesity

                High blood pressure is defined as systolic blood pressure >140mmHg, diastolic blood pressure >90mmHg. Worldwide, high blood pressure is estimated to cause 7.5 million deaths about 12.8% of the total of all deaths. It accounts for 57 million disability altered life years. According to WHO (2016) because of population growth and ageing the numbers of people with uncontrolled hypertension rose from 600 million in 1980 to nearly 1 billion in 2008. High blood pressure is a risk factor in a multiple of diseases such as: CHD, ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke, heart failure, peripheral vascular disease, renal impairment, retinal hemorrhage and visual impairment (WHO 2016).

                Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes. Your body does not use insulin properly and your pancreas cannot keep up and make enough insulin to keep blood glucose levels normal (ADA, 2014). According to the American Diabetes Association (ADA). 1.4 million Americans are diagnosed with diabetes every year. Prediabetes in 2012, 86 million Americans age 20 years and older had prediabetes this has increased from 79 million in 2010. There are so many complications from diabetes or comorbidities such as: hypoglycemia, hypertension, dyslipidemia, CVD death rates (higher in those with diabetes), heart attack rates (higher in those with diabetes), stroke, blindness and eye problems, kidney disease, and amputations are all a possibility (ADA, 2014).

                Obesity or overweight is considered a weight that is higher than what is a healthy weight for a given height. Body Mass Index or BMI is used as a screening tool. According to the CDC (2015) if your BMI is 25.0 to 29.9 it is in the overweight range, 30.0 or higher is in the obese range. More than one third (78.6 million) of United States adults are obese. According to the CDC (2015) obesity affects some groups more than others: non-Hispanic blacks have the highest rate of obesity (47.8%) followed by Hispanics (42.5%), non-Hispanic whites (32.6%), and non-Hispanic Asians (10.8%) (CDC, 2015). Obesity related conditions include heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and certain types of cancer, some of the leading causes of preventable deaths (CDC, 2015).

                These three health issues, high blood pressure, diabetes type 2, and obesity, are all interwoven. Each cause other conditions and most of those conditions are related to the other health issue. So with physical exercise and activity all three can be lessened. Lack of exercise is one of the major culprits in all three. A great majority of our population is sitting throughout the day at work (Public health, 2016). We need to get up and moving.

                Physical activity is anything that gets your body moving. Adults need two types of physical activity: aerobic and muscle strengthening. Adults need at least 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity aerobic activity, like a brisk walk, which works out to 30 minutes 5 days a week. Muscle strengthening activity 2 or more days a week with all major muscle groups (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders, and arms). Types of exercise for aerobics consist of: walking fast, water aerobics, riding a bike on level ground with a few hills, playing doubles tennis, pushing a lawn mower. Types of muscle strengthening exercises: lifting weights, working with resistance bands, doing exercise that use your own body for resistance, i.e. Push-ups and sit ups, heavy gardening i.e. Digging and shoveling, yoga (Public Health, 2016).

                According to the American Journal of Preventative Medicine (Am J Prev Med, 2002) regular physical activity improves aerobic capacity, muscular strength, body agility and coordination, and metabolic function, improvement in bone density, lipid profiles, insulin levels, and immune functions. Nurses need to provide information that will motivate and enable patients to change behavior and to maintain those changes overtime. Education shows the patient how disease prevention and risk reduction can by helped by physical exercise and activities. Nurses can explain methods of overcoming barriers and negative attitudes about physical activities (Am J Prev Med, 2002). Suggest stairs instead of elevators. Community wide campaigns deliver messages that promote activity. They use many components that include support and self-help groups; physical activity counseling; risk factor screening, and education workshops, health fairs, and creating community walking trails. Anything to get and keep the older adult moving (Am J Prev Med, 2002). Include the patient in the planning of their own care. If they are involved they are more likely to continue.

Reference:

American Diabetes Association. ADA. (2014). Statistics about diabetes. Retrieved from http://www.diabetes.org/

American Journal of Preventative Medicine. (AM J Prev Med). (2002). Recommendations to increase physical activity in communities: Task force on community preventative service. Vol 22 no. 4S, p 67-72. Retrieved fromhttp://www.thecommunityguide.org/

Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (CDC, 2015). Division of nutrition, physical activity, and obesity. Retrieved fromhttp://www.cdc.gov/

Public Health. (2016). Obesity in America. Retrieved from http://www.publichealth.org/

World Health Organization. WHO. (2016). Global health observatory data. Raised blood pressure. Retrieved fromhttp://www.who.int/