Nearly 1.8 billion adults are at risk of cancer, stroke, dementia and diabetes due to insufficient exercise, according to a new report released on Wednesday.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said physical inactivity has increased globally by five percentage points from 2010 to 2022, yet around 31% of adults still don’t meet exercise guidelines.
The study, published in The Lancet Global Health journal, pointed out that 34% of women and 29% of men are inactive.
If current trends continue, 35% of people will be inactive by 2030, the report said.
“Physical inactivity is a silent threat to global health, contributing significantly to the burden of chronic diseases,” said Ruediger Krech, director of the WHO’s health promotion department.
Everyone is fat, no one moves around. Hmmm… Chicken and egg problem? More on that.
In 70’s elementary school, we started gym class with a 1-mile jog, twice around the track. I can’t imagine the kids I see walking home from the middle school doing that. We also had 3 recess periods. Asked my step-son about his recess breaks. “What’s recess?”
No, I’m not laying all the blame on my anecdotes, but it is interesting. As I get older, the harm becomes more and more obvious. Not something my young self thought of because A) hardly anyone was fat in school (nothing like today) and B) I was a scrawny kid, not my problem.
I see so much harm that I’d ignored, or it wasn’t as prevalent. People at the store who can’t walk normally, people with mobility gear, almost every person in my doctor’s waiting room is obese, stuff like that. Ever notice that most everyone you see in an ankle brace or the like is well overweight?
It’s sad seeing the things they’re left out of. Met a big girl online, wasn’t interested in dating, but she wanted to kayak. Only person I’ve ever met that actually fell out, repeatedly. Center of gravity far too high. Hiking to the local creek is a non-starter if you’re too big, over a mile of deep, sandy trail. Tough for me to make the round trip and I’m only 145lbs.
I never see fat people on the trail or any kind of unpowered boat. OK, not fair, I see some on river where the kayak/canoe rentals places go, but it’s clearly a rare lark for them. (I’d be an obvious noob if a regular jogger or regular beach goer saw me farting around.)
Back to the chicken and egg. Maybe some overweight people can chime in. Know the old saw about fat people being (physically) lazy? Do you get fat from not moving or not moving because it’s too hard? As I age I see how easy it is to hit a downward spiral with health. Arthritis is eating my hands, but it gets worse if I don’t use them.
Done skipping work. Going outside to work and see what I can manage.
My weight has bounced up and down a bit over the past few years, and while I’ve never been obese (just overweight), I very much notice how gaining weight begins to restrict my range of motion, so I think it is often a bit of a snowball effect. As you gain weight, moving gets harder, and when moving gets harder, you probably move less, making it even easier to keep putting on weight.
Like you mentioned, I’ve also noticed that my pain levels often increase when I move less. I was very hesitant to run or do squats for a long time due to a family history of knee problems, but I have a strong suspicion now that those knee problems were likely made worse due to inactivity. I am still pretty cautious about any knee aches, but I found my knees became less achy as I worked to strengthen my leg muscles.
I think car culture is also a major factor. I currently live in a location where I can comfortably function without a car. I do make an effort to exercise for the sole purpose of exercise, but even if I didn’t, daily life still forces me to get up and move around quite a bit. Not too long ago, I was visiting family and borrowed the car to run some errands. I had 2 stops that were less than a block apart, so I decided to walk, and I will never make that mistake again, because the way everything is designed there really encourages driving and punishes pedestrians.
I could benefit from being more active.
Yea me too
