Physicians need to prescribe exercise. Will they do so? Not likely in the
foreseeable future. Yet, exercise can prevent chronic disease and premature death.
Then, who will share the message that physical inactivity is the biggest health problem
of the 21st century? Who is ready to do something about the ~50% of all adults in the
U.S. will be obese by 2030? There will also be “7.8 million extra cases of diabetes, 6.8
million extra cases of coronary heart disease and stroke, and 539,000 extra cancer
cases” (Wang et al. 2011). Board Certified Exercise Physiologists are scientifically
educated to take on obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease as well as depression
and hypertension by prescribing exercise medicine. They understand the science of
designing personalized exercise medicine programs to fight illness and poor health by
promoting healthy lifestyle behaviors.
Keywords: Active daily living, Benefits of exercise, Chronic diseases, Evidencebased
healthcare, Human and economic cost, Professionalism, Quality of life.
