UMC professor teaches new course on "Inactivity and Chronic Disease"

University of Missouri-Columbia Professor Frank Booth says people can improve their health by taking the stairs instead of the elevator, walking into a restaurant rather than buying food at the drive-through window or - in the case of MU students - walking to Booth’s class.

"I’m not talking about a marathon," Booth said. "I’m talking about 30 minutes of exercise per day. We can reduce some really chronic diseases 30 percent."

Booth, a biomedical sciences professor, will teach a new course this fall that MU thinks might be a first for American universities. "Inactivity and Chronic Disease" will teach students how not being physically active can increase their chances of developing health problems and how public policy influences activity.