SEDENTARY LIFESTYLE. IS A STRETCH ENOUGH ?
By Abanobi Nkachukwu .N
Sedentarism and physical inactivity are associated with a lot of chronic diseases, premature deaths, poor mental health outcomes such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, depression and anxiety disorders in adolescents and adults.
The World Health Organization (WHO) in 2004, endorsed a global strategy on diet, physical activity, and health promotion through:
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Increasing awareness,
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Guiding policy, and action plans,
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Monitoring underlying factors and.
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Reducing the risk of non communicable diseases (NCD’s) due to unhealthy diet and physical inactivity (Rodulfo JI, 2019), yet almost a decade later 81% of the global adolescent population, and about 31.1% of adults worldwide are insufficiently physically active (Hallal et al., 2012). This is an issue because as of 2013, policies to reduce these rates were operational in just 56% of the WHO member states (Ssewanyana et al., 2018), and the reasons given for inactivity are:
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Lack of time;
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Low motivation; and
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Challenge to engage in physical activity (Hallal et al., 2012).
The WHO set a target to reduce physical inactivity by 15% in 2030 by recommending:
- At least 150-300 minutes of moderate physical activity or 75-150 minutes of high-intensity/vigorous physical activity weekly for 18-64 year old’s.
- At least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity for children, in, or at least 3 times a week.
- 150 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity throughout the week for pregnant and postpartum women.
What are your reasons for not exercising?
I’ll go first: the gymnasiums where I live are expensive.
I believe you’ve found your motivation. Now, try to increase the distance to your food pick up station.