Over the past few years, the health and fitness industry has been courting the medical profession, focusing heavily on the many health benefits of exercise in a bid to establish the credibility of ‘exercise is medicine’.

But although it’s undeniably important to shout about these benefits, is this actually a compelling message for the general public to hear on a day-to-day basis? Will the possibility of lengthening their lives by five years, or avoiding potential heart disease in 20 years’ time, be enough to make people commit to regular gym visits today? Or does it just add ‘getting fit’ to the list of things they have to do at some point, once they’ve finished a big work project, had a baby, or got past whatever life challenge is currently consuming them?

For those who just can’t quit smoking, or who reach for a bottle of wine and a bag of crisps before their trainers, is the incessant health message making them bury their head further in the sand? Do we need a two-pronged approach, with a medical focus for the medics and a less prescriptive tone for the public?

As Michelle Segar of the University of Michigan says, modern life is hectic and many decisions we make are automatic, led by emotions rather than logic. So how do we make exercise an automatic decision? For someone who’s exhausted after a stressful day, how can we make them choose to go to the gym rather than flopping on the sofa?

Do we need to focus on more tangible, instant benefits rather than long-term health – for example, being able to cope better with tomorrow’s stresses if they go to the gym today?

Are our messages too long-term? Too medicalised? What should we be saying, and how can we run two campaigns concurrently so we appeal both to the medics and those motivated by ‘exercise is medicine’, as well as those who just want to lose a few pounds? We ask the experts....