The Institute is honored that the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences recently nominated its series of exercise PSAs for an Emmy. Accommodating individual needs though is not enough to ensure that people will start and maintain an exercise program. Researchers have learned that ethnicity can affect the perceptions individuals have about exercise and their willingness to enter and participate in community-based exercise programs. Interventions can be more effective if they are adapted to cultural expectations and beliefs and community structures. For example, an aerobic dance class using music familiar to a particular ethic group may be particularly effective in encouraging compliance in participation.
People are also more likely to be motivated to exercise if their physician recommends it.
This finding suggests that physicians should be encouraged to recommend exercise for older people if we expect to see physical activity rates increase in the future. The amount of information research has uncovered about the positive effects of exercise is impressive. Nonetheless, many questions remain unanswered about exercise and its role in improving the health of older people. Recently reported research in declining disability rates among older persons may be associated with improved health habits. In 1997, Dr. Kenneth Manton and his colleagues at Duke University published findings, based on waves of data from the National Long-Term Care Study, which demonstrated a dramatic and unexpected reduction in rates of disability among older persons.