[Sport and health]

The report of the National Academy of Medicine named "Sport and Health" underlines the medical, social and educational dimensions of sporting activities. Various kinds of sporting practices are described: they concern the approximately 7,000 high level athletes, around 8,000 professional (licensed) sportsmen, and sporting club members (approximately 15 millions people). A large number of amateurs do not practice in any structure and therefore are neither managed in their activities nor medically followed. Some characteristics of sporting practice at various stages of life have been documented. Around 50% of the teenagers from 12 to 17 years have a sporting practice out-of-school besides the weekly three hours applied at school or college; however, the withdrawal of sporting practice by a high number of teenagers results in a sedentary lifestyle with overweight and obesity, major risks factors for health. Elderly people take a profit from a regular and medically controlled physical activity. Functional capacities are thus improved, cardiovascular risks factors among other, which results in better quality of life of the aged and delays their dependence. The benefit upon public health of sporting practice has been pointed out in the primary prevention of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, osteoporosis, obesity, diabetes, breast and colon cancer, and mood disturbances. It is currently well acknowledged that sporting practice is an important component of public health in both primary and secondary prevention of many diseases. Deleterious effects of which the most serious is the sudden death related to a cardiovascular anomaly, which generally occurs during an important physical effort. An important sport drift is the practice of doping to improve performances through the use of hormones, anabolics, EPO, transfusions, ... When a person exceeds his/her capacities of adaptation, because of a badly adapted or a too intense drive, this overtraining results in a reduction in physical capabilities, stress, behavioral issues and sleep-wake disorders. All of those issues often lead sportsmen to doping with the aim to improve their capabilities, rapidly installing an overtiredness state resulting in a fall of performances. A major aim from the view point of public health is to reinforce the fight against doping since it concerns a large number of people, sportsmen and amateurs, with teenagers among them. Lastly, this report underlines that sport medicine is practically not taught in the initial training of medical doctors. The qualification of sport physician is obtained through a diploma named sport medicine capacity.