Physical Activity and Lifestyle

Making healthy lifestyle choices lowers the chance of developing heart disease and slows down its progression if you already have it.

Getting more active is a major goal for improving public health worldwide, and it is a part of the World Health Organization's Global Action Plan on Physical Activity. Our research team works on creating, testing, and using methods that motivate both kids and adults to be more physically active. We're especially interested in finding ways to encourage people with various medical conditions to become more active.

Explore research activities in the Physical Activity and Lifestyle theme. Names shown indicate authors or co-authors involved from the Centre for Cardiovascular Health.

Physical Activity Referral Schemes

Physical activity referral schemes are popular and widespread interventions to encourage people to be more active. Referrals of people with a range of medical conditions are usually made by healthcare professionals to leisure organisations. Participants receive one-to-one consultations and are often supervised physical activity options. We have a growing amount of research in this area and have contributed to the development of the Public Health Scotland Physical Activity Referral Standards. We are conducting a large study into whether and how these standards are implemented.

Read more about Assessing the implementation of the Public Health Scotland Physical Activity Referral Standards: A process evaluation

Transport, Healthy Living and Translational Research

We can boost physical activity and promote a healthier lifestyle by encouraging people to walk or use active modes of transportation for short trips. This idea fits with the growing emphasis on creating neighbourhoods that are good for living and health, like the concept of "15-minute cities." In these areas, you can easily reach most of your daily needs by walking or cycling within 15 minutes. The best chance for improvement comes from replacing short car trips in cities with walking or cycling, which also helps the Scottish Government's goal to reduce the number of kilometres people drive in cars by 2030.

We create and share easy-to-understand summaries of research findings for local transportation and planning professionals. These summaries are short and written in a way that avoids technical language. You can find these summaries in Professor Adrian Davis's evidence library. If you want to be notified when we add new summaries, you can sign up for alerts here.

Exercise Physiology

We use exercise as a tool to understand how our bodies respond in both healthy and diseased states. We use advanced technology and state of the art laboratories to help us study how our bodies react to exercise and how they adapt over time. Our assessments can cover things like body composition, how well our heart and lungs work, how our muscles function, and how our heart and blood vessels work together.

High intensity interval training in patients with heart failure

SUN Project - Seasonal Utilisation of Nitric Oxide: Implications for Vascular Health

Avoiding sun exposure is linked to a higher risk of dying from any cause, even when we consider other factors like diet, smoking, and our economic status. Exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light from the sun lowers blood pressure and affects how our body functions. In the laboratory, studies have shown that when our skin is exposed to UV light, it releases a substance called nitric oxide (NO) that has a significant role in keeping our cardiovascular system healthy. Our bodies have less NO available in the winter compared to the summer. This project is all about exploring how the availability of NO changes with the seasons and how it affects our blood vessels and heart health. We will also investigate ways to increase NO availability and measure how it impacts our cardiovascular health.

Find relevant publications here.