\u201cPeople might actually be surprised to know that there was a pilot here, about 10 or 12 years ago,\u201d he explained.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were prescribing exercise and things like that.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m always wary about these things; I don\u2019t think it\u2019s coming here anytime soon.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it definitely is something behind it from a medical basis, believe it or not.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Happy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/TTNM7K.jpg\")
Friends taking selfies at the gym. Alamy.com<\/p>\n
Dr Breen added that while exercise is hugely beneficial, it is not a silver bullet for every condition.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI can think of patients straight away who are long-term unwell [and for] whom advising them to go to an exercise class just wouldn\u2019t be appropriate,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I can think of a few people who would relish something like this.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut as GPs, we\u2019ve very, very cautious about these [initiatives] and the costing would need to be rock solid.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
‘Can\u2019t underestimate the impact’<\/p>\n
Also on the programme, Irish Physio Analytical Association Chairperson Darina Dunne argued that the health service should put far greater emphasis on exercise.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWithin this country, with all due respect to your previous speaker, we tend to be far too quick to go straight to medication in terms of the solution,\u201d she argued.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we\u2019re doing currently in relation to our healthcare model really is disease management.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think there is anyone that is credible that would say that physical activity has got a huge role to play in terms of people\u2019s wellness, in terms of people\u2019s long term health.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd also, in terms of mental health.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ms Dunne continued that exercise is a \u201ccritical tool in terms of recovery\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing physically active just 30 minutes a day reduces your chances of getting cancer,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t underestimate the impact that physical activity can have.\u201d<\/p>\n
Main image: A woman exercising. Picture by: Alamy.com.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Should GPs give out prescriptions for exercise instead of sick notes?\u00a0 In Britain, Health Secretary Wes Streeting has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2105,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[337,97],"class_list":["post-2104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fitness","tag-fitness","tag-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2104\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}