Is there a difference in cardio-metabolic risks in people with schizophrenia who comply versus who do not comply with PA recommendations?
Results:
The relative risk of metabolic syndrome (cluster of risk factors - positive if 3/5) and metabolic factors is higher in the patients who did not comply with the 150min per week
But, a lot of healthy people are not reaching this goal so why should we expect our patients to reach them?
The guidelines give us a direction. But we know that weekly goals (a primary focus of the WHO guidelines) do not have a significant effect on PA, whereas daily goals and daily-plus-weekly goals do.
The weekly WHO recommendations may also act as a deterrent for physically inactive people who may incorrectly believe that benefits from physical activity are only obtained once this (in many clinical cases, unrealistic) threshold is achieved.
Health recommendations for the general population should not be discarded, but reframed as aspirational goals. Small incremental improvements (ex: sitting less and moving more) constitute real-world interventions to improve health of people with severe mental illness.
