Culture and Health - Physical activity as complementary therapy

The second lecture of the 2025 Culture and Health course – Doctors and Social Prescribing. Healing through sport, nature, culture and volunteering – will take place on Monday, October 20, from 6:00 to 7:45 p.m., at the Aula Polivalente, East Campus, Lugano.

Physical activity will be the focus of the talk by Dr. Mandy Zhang, deputy director of Singapore’s Exercise is Medicine programme, who will illustrate the strong scientific evidence of the effectiveness of physical exercise in preventing and managing chronic illnesses. With over 30,000 randomised trials providing supporting evidence, regular physical exercise is recognised as a key form of protection against noncommunicable diseases such as cardiovascular illnesses, type 2 diabetes and different forms of cancer. It also improves our mental health, helping prevent cognitive decline, depression and anxiety, as well as enabling us to maintain a healthy weight and contributing to our general wellbeing. Dr. Ollie Hart, GP and clinical director of the Heeley Plus Primary Care Network (UK), will offer concrete examples of how to integrate the prescription of physical exercise in the daily clinical practice of general practitioners.

Full programme: www.culturaesalute.ch – IBSA Foundation