key: cord-0888119-hcf9tzeh authors: Rodríguez, Miguel Ángel; Crespo, Irene; Olmedillas, Hugo title: Exercising in times of COVID-19: what do experts recommend doing within four walls? date: 2020-04-08 journal: Rev Esp Cardiol (Engl Ed) DOI: 10.1016/j.rec.2020.04.001 sha: 8f7184ec6bd70d0bd7df804590639b71a7638e63 doc_id: 888119 cord_uid: hcf9tzeh nan more than 48 000 deaths worldwide. 3 Although China is managing to slow the incidence of new infections through extremely disciplined measures, European countries such as Italy and Spain, and most recently the United States, have been overwhelmed by the current emergency. Thus, many countries have declared indefinite quarantines aiming to decrease the infection rate and avoid overloading health systems. Lockdown is considered the best option to protect health, but in particularly vulnerable people (those aged ≥ 65 years, and those with serious heart conditions, chronic lung disease, diabetes, obesity, and chronic kidney and liver disease), sedentary behaviors have a strong impact. Therefore, it is important to preserve lifestyles and particularly the practice of physical exercise. There is irrefutable evidence of the beneficial role of physical exercise in disease prevention, as an adjuvant treatment in chronic diseases, and in psychological wellbeing. Furthermore, exercise could also have a protective effect on the immune system, whose optimal status is crucial to respond J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f We agree completely with the statement that, in terms of cardiovascular health, "something is better than nothing". 11 Nonetheless, we intend to establish more precise knowledge about the most beneficial exercise guidelines, bearing in mind the individual demands of each person and the particular situation of the quarantine. In this regard, Jiménez-Pavón et al. 12 have performed an exhaustive critical analysis of the most appropriate recommendations for exercise, especially those targeting the elderly. The authors have brilliantly suggested adjusting the international guidelines on physical activity to the current situation. In this way, they propose increasing exercise frequency from 5 to 5-7 days per week, the amount of aerobic exercise from 150-300 to 200-400 min/wk, incorporating more strength training, balance and coordination routines, and controlling the intensity, which should be moderate to avoid detrimental effects. Based on these ideas, we analyzed the exercise guidelines created specifically by several of the most renowned health care institutions, both internationally and nationally (Spain). Table 1 summarizes the main recommendations of each of these institutions [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] . Overall, all the entities provide the same general recommendations, which is to remain active at home, take short active breaks, and avoid excessive sedentary periods. Following these recommendations, Portable health gadgets have ensured that it has never been easier for users without prior knowledge to quantify and monitor exercise routines. However, due to the wide range of platforms dedicated to the promotion of physical exercise, it is necessary to consult information channels developed by scientific societies, clinicians and sports health professionals to achieve optimal cardiovascular and skeletal muscle fitness, within the limits allowed by the quarantine. In conclusion, the most representative institutions in terms of physical exercise and health have created spaces and recommendations to encourage people to continue to be physically active during the lockdown. The population should perform multicomponent full-body programs including aerobic, strengthening, balance, and stretching exercises. Furthermore, cognitive tasks are strongly recommended in the elderly to preserve cognitive ability and brain activity. The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article. World Health Organization. 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