“Let’s be clear: drastic fasts or long bike rides are useless, as are jogging in the parks. You need to do sport for at least 4 months to work off the Christmas excesses, doing physical activity must become a healthy and long-lasting habit…”. This is what Giuseppe Capua, member of the federal medical commission of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), specialized in Sports Medicine and expert in sports traumatology, explains to Adnkronos Salute. Doing a bit of sport after lunches and dinners therefore only serves to put one’s conscience at ease and relieve some sense of guilt. Nothing more. “After the holidays you have to deal with the scales but rushing doesn’t help – continues Capua – Surely the Christmas holidays are the moment in which you realize that you can hurt yourself by eating too much and then it’s not true that you just need to go to run the next day. Instead, it is necessary to undergo analysis, a medical examination and then start a sporting activity always following the advice of a specialist. In short, sport is a drug that is good from a cardiovascular and osteo-articular point of view but it is not the same for everyone. Physical activity must certainly be done for at least 3-4 months following the holidays, without however suddenly throwing yourself into a regime of stressful physical activity because this would cause you harm. Excesses must be fought over time, with regularity and consistency.” The advice, for those who don’t have sport as a daily habit, is to “walk every day for at least 30 minutes. Anyone can do it at any age, from 5 to 90 years old. So go to the gym without forgetting to follow an adequate diet, introducing carbohydrates and proteins in a balanced way to strengthen your muscles”