While kinesiology research is clear about the benefits of physical activity, applying that information can be challenging for individuals and health professionals alike.<\/p>\n
\u201cPhysical inactivity is a complicated problem that does not have a simple\u00a0solution,\u201d says Professor of Kinesiology Philip Wilson.<\/p>\n
Two\u00a0Brock University Spring\/Summer courses,\u00a0KINE 2P08 Research Design in Kinesiology<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0KINE 2P41 Health and Physical Activity Promotion<\/a>, aim to help students understand, evaluate and implement health and wellness information.<\/p>\n In KINE 2P08, students will learn how to assess\u00a0knowledge\u00a0claims by exploring how research is\u00a0conducted.<\/p>\n The course explores the steps in designing and implementing a research project, including putting forth hypotheses, collecting and analyzing samples, listing variables and abiding by ethics requirements.<\/p>\n Also central to the course is the idea that respect and justice underpin ethical decision-making in research. Scholars, Wilson says, must ask also who they burden when doing research with a specific group.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to allow people to choose to participate, and they have the right to choose to withdraw at any time,\u201d he says. \u201cAt the same time, there should be some benefit to the participants.\u201d<\/p>\n With a solid understanding of the research process, students will be better positioned to\u00a0critically assess health claims .<\/p>\n \u201cFor example, there is no evidence whatsoever that says targeted fat loss is possible in specific areas of the body, commonly known as spot reduction, via exercise alone. There is no evidence to support 10,000 steps a day as the benchmark for health promotion,\u201d Wilson says.<\/p>\n Yet these common beliefs persist in the health and fitness industry.<\/p>\n Students will also examine claims like these in KINE 2P41, exploring how evidence translates into public health guidance and where it falls short.<\/p>\n Wilson says that while there is extensive evidence that exercise offers metabolic benefits and cardiorespiratory benefits, scaling that information into\u00a0a public\u00a0health framework and\u00a0changing\u00a0the health of large\u00a0populations\u00a0is challenging.<\/p>\n He points to high-intensity interval\u00a0training\u00a0(HIIT)\u00a0as an example of tension between data and application.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom a\u00a0public health strategy\u00a0lens,\u00a0HIIT\u00a0is very\u00a0demanding. When something is demanding, it typically has a negative effect on uptake,\u201d Wilson says.<\/p>\n Commonly recommended daily step goals present a similar issue.<\/p>\n \u201cThe widely promoted 10,000-step target was actually the Japanese name of the first pedometer,\u201d he says. \u201cEvidence suggests more realistic thresholds, including 7,500 to 8,500 step range for a healthy adult and a step range of 4,500 to 5,000 for those living with chronic disease.\u201d<\/p>\n Students in KINE 2P41 explore how behaviour can be changed through policy, which Wilson says can be difficult to enforce, and how environmental factors \u2014 from weather to street connectivity, pathways, sidewalks and lighting \u2014 shape activity levels.<\/p>\n While incentives may also work in the short term, Wilson says physical activity is a lifetime commitment.<\/p>\n \u201cMove more, stop less and repeat forever,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" While kinesiology research is clear about the benefits of physical activity, applying that information can be challenging for individuals and health professionals alike.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":108889,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[36,12374,1],"tags":[28,12230,996,7488,5541,11305],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108887"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108887"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108887\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108891,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108887\/revisions\/108891"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}