The sedentary adults were randomly assigned to receive no counseling or eight telephone counseling sessions over a 12-week period that focused on "the merits of increased physical activity (and) used motivational interviewing methods to engage the participants in physical activity," Kolt told Reuters Health.

"Counseling and education about how to engage in physical activity is effective in increasing physical activity levels and maintaining these levels," Kolt said.

After 12 months, the counseled group increased their activity from an average of 2.75 hours at the start of the study to just over 3.0 hours at the end of the telephone counseling phase. By study end, the counseled group reported about 4.0 hours of leisure physical activity per week.

By comparison, the weekly activity reported by the group not counseled was initially about 2.0 hours per week, decreased to just under 2.0 hours after three months, and remained at less than 2.0 hours at study end.

While the researchers identified no significant improvements in quality of life measures in the counseled group compared with the comparison group, the counseled group had no increased risk of falling associated with their increased physical activity levels.

SOURCE: Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, July 2007.

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