New Delhi. All adults should engage in moderately intense exercises for atleast 30 minutes for five days a week or vigorous exercises for atleast 20 minutes three days a week, said Dr KK Aggarwal, President Heart Care Foundation of India.

Quoting new guidelines from American Heart Association and American College of Sports Medicine, Dr. Aggarwal said that physical inactivity as biggest public health problem today. It accounts for more morbidity and mortality than anything except cigarette smoking. The earlier 1995 recommendations said that 30 minutes of moderate intense activity should be done all seven days a week.

Giving an example, Dr. Aggarwal said that moderate intensity exercise can be brisk walk, light jogging or exercises that noticeably increase heart rate. On the other hand, vigorous intensity exercises include jogging with rapid breathing and spontaneous increase in heart rate.

The new guidelines also call for weight lifting exercise to work in muscular strength and endurance with eight to ten different exercises on two non-consecutive days a week. Even people above the age of 65 should consider lifting weights and balance training.

It has been a traditional yogic saying that one who eats once is a yogi, one who eats twice is a bhogi and one who eats thrice is a rogi. ‘Eating less prolongs life’ is a well known phenomenon. The same is true for the resting heart rate and respiratory rate, said Dr. Aggarwal.

High resting heart rate and respiratory rate is associated with diminished life span. It is a traditional yogic teaching that one is born with a fixed number of heart rate and respiratory rate and the earlier you use them, the sooner you will have to go for a refill but with a different body.Efforts should be made to reduce both respiratory and pulse rate. Both can be reduced by indulging in pranayama, yoga and meditation.