Inactivity Is as Dangerous as Smoking

Is being inactive more dangerous than we think? 

In this clip from our episode “Why Exercise Beats Longevity Hacks”, CareTalk host John Driscoll speaks with Dr. Jordan Metzl, Author of The Athlete’s Book of Home Remedies, about why movement may be the most powerful preventive medicine we have, even in the era of GLP-1s.

Listen to the full episode here

🎙️⚕️ABOUT JORDAN METZL
Jordan D. Metzl, MD is a nationally recognized sports medicine physician, best selling author, and fitness instructor who practices at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City, voted annually as the top orthopedic hospital in the United States by US News and World Reports.

Selected annually by New York Magazine as one of New York’s top sports medicine doctors, Dr. Metzl sees athletic patients of all ages at locations in New York City and the HSS satellite offices in Westchester and Stamford, Connecticut. Known for his passion for sports and fitness, Dr. Metzl’s focus is to return athletes to their field of their choice as quickly and safely as possible. His goal is to help athletes of all ages achieve their highest level of performance and success. 

🎙️⚕️ABOUT CARETALK
CareTalk is a weekly podcast that provides an incisive, no B.S. view of the US healthcare industry. Join co-hosts John Driscoll (Chairman, UConn Health) and David Williams (President, Health Business Group) as they debate the latest in US healthcare news, business and policy. 

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Transcript

John: 0:06

I mean, the, the thing that I, that's striking about the lack of movement is, is basically you lay out a case that says the, that low movement and little exercise is as dangerous as smoking or diabetes, which is just a shocker. I mean, this, it could, is it possible that lack of movement can be as dangerous as a, a chronic disease like diabetes or, or, or putting your lungs to risk with smoking?

Dr. Metzl: 0:31

Not only do we have great evidence on that, but we have great evidence on the preventative nature of exercise, independent of some of the issues like, you know, lifestyle or dietary changes or weight. It's much healthier to be moderately overweight, mild to moderately overweight and active than it is to be very thin and inactive. So in our days of GLP one, everybody wanting to get as skinny as possible. That doesn't really necess necessarily equate to many, many health benefits. Activity is the best drug movement is by far the safest, free, and most effective drug across the entire spectrum of, of the human condition. That's why I'm so passionate about prescribing it, not only saying people should do it, but actually prescribing it to patients and to my community on a regular basis.

John: 1:16

What's it going to take to get other doctors to prescribe movement? Because you, you're not, you're not actually laying out the, the old presidential fitness test. You're not saying everybody needs to mar be a marathoner. You're, you're your, your exercise prescription is actually with, within most people's ambition and ability. What's it gonna take to get doctors to start to prescribe exercise?

Dr. Metzl: 1:40

Well, it's interesting. We started now about 10 years ago when I started recognizing I had this kind of community and that it was impactful. Um, about 10 years ago now, we started a seminar next door for the second year med students at Cornell called prescribing the Medicine of Exercise. And we started looking around for curriculum, uh, to look at the effective exercise on chronic disease and mental health and prevention. And you know, the exercise prescription. And there was literally no curriculum for medical students. Like you learn about how to do all kinds of exotic things and you learn nothing about the thing that probably makes a bigger difference than many of the things you spend, you know, days and weeks studying.

John: 2:17

Pause on that, that if exercise is one of the most important elements of fitness, there has to be some, something you learn in medical school about exercise in the science of.

Dr. Metzl: 2:30

Not a thing. Not a thing. There was zero curriculum and so we started kind of looking through this curriculum. That was 10 years ago. There's a little more movement now, but still not as much as I would like to see. But there are certainly, as you see some of the advertising around different healthcare systems, I know here at HSS we're looking at starting a center around movement and longevity. There are many others doing the same. There has been with this kind of longevity craze, which you know. I'm not a big believer. We can dramatically extend life expectancy, but we definitely can extend. We're not,

John: 3:00

oh, come on,

Dr. Metzl: 3:00

healthy longevity.

John: 3:01

We're not all gonna, we're not all gonna live to 150. Come on

Dr. Metzl: 3:04

Dr. I don't wanna, but we can definitely extend healthy longevity. We can reduce the risk of disease. Um, certainly. And so by thinking about those things with movement, you know, we wanna think about how do we ensure our patients and our community can be as active as possible? And, and I think healthcare systems in general are starting to. Lean into that, but it still is community dependent, geographically dependent. Um, so there's, there are a number of factors, which I think we still have to kind of sort out, but I think we're heading in the right direction.