Get off the couchAbout the authorHugh Bethell MBE MD FRCP FRCGPDr Hugh Bethell qualified in medicine in 1966. His early career included a stint as a Cardiac Registrar at Charing Cross Hospital where he first encountered the use of exerccise for treating heart disease - ground breaking at the time. In 1974 Hugh abandoned cardiology and entered general practice in Alton in Hampshire. There he set up an exercise programme in the Alton Sports Centre for patients recovering from heart attacks and other cardiac ailments and operations. Since then he has written extensively on exercise for heart disease including two books, 9 book chapters, 65 original scientific papers and 76 review articles. In the early 90s he was the driver for setting up the British Association for Cardiac Rehabilitation (now the British Association for Cardiac Prevention and Rehabilitation) and became its first President. Over the past 12 years he has expanded the Cardiac Rehab activities to embrace those with other problems, particularly those which increase the risk of coronary disease - high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes et al. He has also become particularly interested in the exercise treatment of degenerative diseases, disability and frailty in later life, all of which are promoted by an inactive lifestyle. His aim is to encourage regular physical activity for all for disease prevention, increasing longevity and most of all leading to a healthy and enjoyable old age. Get off the couchAbout the authorHugh Bethell MBE MD FRCP FRCGPDr Hugh Bethell qualified in medicine in 1966. His early career included a stint as a Cardiac Registrar at Charing Cross Hospital where he first encountered the use of exerccise for treating heart disease - ground breaking at the time. In 1974 Hugh abandoned cardiology and entered general practice in Alton in Hampshire. There he set up an exercise programme in the Alton Sports Centre for patients recovering from heart attacks and other cardiac ailments and operations. Since then he has written extensively on exercise for heart disease including two books, 9 book chapters, 65 original scientific papers and 76 review articles. In the early 90s he was the driver for setting up the British Association for Cardiac Rehabilitation (now the British Association for Cardiac Prevention and Rehabilitation) and became its first President. Over the past 12 years he has expanded the Cardiac Rehab activities to embrace those with other problems, particularly those which increase the risk of coronary disease - high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes et al. He has also become particularly interested in the exercise treatment of degenerative diseases, disability and frailty in later life, all of which are promoted by an inactive lifestyle. His aim is to encourage regular physical activity for all for disease prevention, increasing longevity and most of all leading to a healthy and enjoyable old age.