Health Education Programme Through Physical Exercise for People With Severe Mental Disorders

To achieve the European guidelines of 150 minutes by week of moderate intensity physical activity, participants randomized to the GPAG condition were prescribed three 60 minutes exercise sessions (five minutes of warm-up and five minutes of cool-down for a total of sixty minutes per session) per week for 12 weeks. Exercise consisted of brisk walking in urban and rural open spaces during which heart rate monitors were worn and participants were instructed to stay within their moderate intensity range. The incentives were different proposals for specific exercises to train the different musculoskeletal areas more comprehensively. Autonomous exercise was monitored offside the sessions through a series of weekly checkpoints.

"Participants randomised to the SPAG performed their usual daily activities and continued with their daily routine.~Both conditions were matched for duration of physical activity. Participants in both conditions were required to attend three on-site sessions by week over 12 weeks that served as checkpoints. Moreover, both conditions were provided with brief healthy lifestyle counseling at baseline."