Abstract

The issue of how much physical activity is needed for desired health benefits is of great relevance on both individual and public health perspectives. The scientific community has attempted to provide general guidelines and recommendations for the proper dose of physical activity for these different health benefits. Physical activity dose is defined by the frequency, intensity, and bout duration of activity, and the consequent total amount of activity, usually expressed in activity units per week. In order to characterise, qualitatively or quantitatively, these dose elements as recommendations, the dose-response relationships of physical activity and different health outcomes need to be defined. During the past two to three decades, substantial evidence has accumulated in this area and generalised recommendations have been issued. The purpose of this chapter is to review the recent evidence on the dose characteristics of health-enhancing physical activity by describing the development of consensus recommendations, re-evaluating the evidence presented in an international dose-response symposium in 2001, and reviewing the relevant literature published thereafter. Thus, the paper attempts to present the current understanding on how often, how long, what kind and what amount of physical activity is needed for different health benefits. Einleitung