The Truth about Exercise

During the expert session, Jason Gill engages the audience through a Q&A chat, an interactive Mentimeter app activity on necessary physical activity levels, and sharing scientific data on exercise benefits and recommendations. Jason discusses his work in developing physical activity guidelines, emphasizing the importance of muscle strengthening activities and limiting sedentary time. Using studies and real-life examples, he highlights the relationship between fitness levels, physical activity, and health outcomes, encouraging participants to find ways to incorporate regular exercise into their daily lives.

• Discovering Individualized Physical Activity Needs: Understanding that one size does not fit all when it comes to physical activity, and learning how to recommend appropriate amounts based on scientific evidence is essential for promoting optimal health.
• Accurate Measurement of Physical Activity: Realizing the importance of using precise measurement methods like activity trackers to assess physical activity levels accurately and account for discrepancies between self-reported and actual activity.
• Balancing Muscle Strengthening and Cardiovascular Activities: Recognizing the benefits of both muscle strengthening activities and cardiovascular exercises in reducing the risk of adverse health outcomes, and understanding that a combination of both provides the best results for overall health and well-being.

In this expert session, Jason Gill leads a captivating discussion on the significance of exercise and fitness, acknowledging that one size does not fit all. Jason shares his professional background as someone who develops physical activity guidelines based on scientific evidence. He initiates an interactive activity using the Mentimeter app, asking participants to share their estimated necessary amount of physical activity. Jason then introduces a graph depicting the relationship between physical activity and mortality risk, emphasizing that even small amounts of activity can yield substantial benefits.

He asks participants where they would draw the line for recommending an amount of physical activity for the population based on this data. The expert proceeds to discuss the recommendations from organizations such as the World Health Organization and the UK guidelines. These recommendations suggest at least 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity activities like brisk walking or 75 to 150 minutes per week of vigorous activities like running, as well as high-intensity interval training (HIIT) for those willing to commit.

Jason shares a study on HIIT's impact on health outcomes and discusses the importance of muscle-strengthening activities and limiting sedentary time. He also addresses the discrepancy between self-reported physical activity and actual physical activity and introduces the concept of regression dilution bias, which occurs when data is measured imprecisely.

The expert session continues with Jason discussing the importance of muscle strengthening for functional performance and metabolic health benefits. He also explores ways to encourage muscle strengthening activities at home and presents a home-based exercise program.

Jason discusses physical activity and cardiovascular fitness, emphasizing their relationship and impact on health outcomes. He shares insights into the importance of both aerobic and resistance exercises for overall health and well-being. The expert also touches upon the relevance of Body Mass Index (BMI) in measuring health and risk when individuals engage in muscle strength training.

Throughout the session, Jason answers questions from participants about topics including too much exercise, cardio vs. muscle strengthening exercises, and high-intensity interval training (HIIT). He emphasizes that a combination of both aerobic and resistance exercises provides the best results for most people.

Diets and Obesity

Obesity is a major public health problem which affects life expectancy and costs billions. It’s also a complex and confusing topic and there is a bewildering array of – often conflicting – information out there about its causes and what we need to do to maintain a healthy body weight. So how can we distinguish between robust scientific evidence and ‘fake news’. In this session, Professor Jason Gill aims to make you an instant expert on diet and obesity by providing evidence-based answers to some of the questions you always wanted to ask on the topic, including: why can some people get fat and stay healthy, but for others even a very small increase in weight can lead to poor health? Which aspects of diet most affect how much we eat and our body weight? Should we be concerned about ultra-processed foods?

• Awareness is the most important result of this session I think and that is what sessions like this do.
• Excellent session. Really well delivered. Very impressed!!
• Great session, most new insights of the 3 I followed! Tip, instead of taking graps directly from papers, make them visually more simple so the key take-away of a graph can be quicker identified by the audience.
• Was great - thank you for opportunity that I could join!
• Another great session. Thank you HR!
• I really enjoyed it - great speaker, very friendly and approachable. Very non-judgemental too - easier for people to being exercising :)
• Really enjoyed the message, I know as a male over 50 and over weight I need to eat right and exercise more often.