RESEARCH
we've all got to own this and not assume that obesity is someone else's problem. it's not just for doctors to sort out
He admits the UK is some way behind the Netherlands with its enthu- siastic cycling habits, but offers as good examples cities like York and Oxford which are especially cycle-friendly, and central London’s rent-a-bike scheme.
While some solutions may seem rel- atively easy, Kelly also points out that things will only work if all parties are on board. “We’ve all got to own this problem and not assume that obesity is someone else’s problem – it’s not just for doctors to sort out. “It requires concerted efforts
involving the medical profession, government, the food industry, the exercise industry, planners of transport systems, as well as all of us taking responsibility for our own health.”
JOINING FORCES The increasing dialogue between the medical and fitness industries is something that Kelly welcomes, and it’s a rapprochement that he sees as vital to the future. “There are a number of medical and fitness leaders around the country who are working tirelessly to make this happen, and I’m optimistic that we are moving in the right direction," he says. “It’s very likely that in the next five to 10 years we’ll see more of this work incorporated into the medical curricu- lum and the training of GPs.”
brief bio
Professor Kelly is director of the Centre of Public Health Excellence at NICE where he leads on the development of public health guidance. He is a pub- lic health practitioner, researcher and academic. He studied social science at the University of York, has a Masters degree in sociology from the University of Leicester, and undertook his PhD
in the Department of Psychiatry in the University of Dundee. His interests include evidence-based
approaches to health improvement, cor- onary heart disease prevention, chronic illness, disability, physical activity, health inequalities, behaviour change, social identity and community involve- ment in health promotion.
Many experts have drawn a parallel between the det- rimental effects of smoking and the dangers of a sed- entary lifestyle. After the publication of the Doll and Hill study into the link between smoking and lung cancer in the early 1950s, Kelly says that most doc- tors changed their own smoking habits. “Even today it’s still very
rare to see a doctor, in the UK at least, who is a smoker. They’ve been fan- tastic role models for us all. “GPs have been one of the major ways we’ve achieved success in the cessation of smoking. It leads us to assume that
NICE recommends that people walk and cycle more
if they can become as single-minded in their recommendation of physical activity, they could play a very impor- tant part in the process.”
CARROTS AND STICKS An added complication with treat- ing the so-called lifestyle diseases is that they involve tackling the com- plex issue of human behaviour. To this end, Kelly says NICE is currently updating its 2007 guidelines on behav- iour change.“It’s one thing to resolve to change your behaviour and quite
another to have continuing beneficial behaviour," he says. Returning to the issue of smoking, Kelly says that across the decades there have been some very effective public education campaigns, a gradual “denormalising” of the act of smoking, increasingly hard-hitting advertising, the banning of adverts on cigarette packets and ultimately the ban on smoking in public places. “All of these things have led to a
remarkable improvement in people’s health with regards to heart disease, cancer and chest illnesses,” he says. However, these changes took 60 years, and Kelly acknowledges that with the obesity and lifestyle disease ‘time-bomb’ we cannot afford to spend quite as long forming a solution. Kelly admits it may take a while for
some GPs and other professionals to embrace the message of physi- cal activity, but says: “The decisive change hasn’t happened yet – it’s been a rather slow burn, but I am optimistic that we’re talking about the medicine of the future.” l
50 Read Leisure Management online
leisuremanagement.co.uk/digital ISSUE 1 2013 © cybertrek 2013
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