Exercise Information Added to Your Next Checkup?

Get up and get moving. That’s the message of several educational campaigns that are blitzing the media right now. The ads are meant to inspire exercise and healthier eating, but now it won’t just be media messages reminding you to exercise. Kaiser Permanente, one of the nation’s largest nonprofit health insurance plans, wants all doctors to record how often you exercise at each doctor’s visit.

A plan to motivate people

The next time you go in for a checkup, don’t be surprised if the nurse asks how frequently you exercise and how often. She’ll take your blood pressure and vital signs and then asks a few exercise questions.

“All we ask our physicians to do is to make a comment on it, like, `Hey, good job,’ or `I noticed today that your blood pressure is too high and you’re not doing any exercise. There’s a connection there. We really need to start you walking 30 minutes a day,'” said Dr. Robert Sallis, a Kaiser family doctor.

The hope is to open the lines of communication between patients and doctors about the health hazards of excess weight.

Early numbers suggest more inspiration is needed

A study looking at the first year of Kaiser’s effort showed more than a third of patients said they never exercise, according to the Huffington Post.

The exercise questions are currently being asked in about seven states, with an estimated 9 million people answering the quick questions as part of their vital sign check since 2008.

While some of the statistics look bleak, doctors say it’s important to understand the severity of the problem before a solution can be determined. Doctors will continue to compile the information but now the focus will shift to finding ways to make people more active.