Physical inactivity kills
There’s a new kid on the block where the leading causes of death reside. It goes by the name of physical inactivity. It’s been around for a while, lurking in the background, but only recently got the attention it really deserves.
The long overdue recognition that being inactive ranks right up there with heart disease, cancer and the other traditionally recognized causes of human mortality came when the prestigious British medical journal Lancet published a series of research papers on the consequences of being indolent. The studies even suggested we view inactivity as a global pandemic.
That physical inactivity can be the death of you isn’t exactly a new concept. Recreational athletes are motivated in part by knowledge that exercise can strengthen a heart that otherwise might fail and that indulging in an active lifestyle can keep the wolves of disease at bay. What’s remarkable about the Lancet studies is that we finally know just how vital being active really is.
The studies indicated physical inactivity causes one in 10 deaths worldwide. That puts sweat avoidance right up there with smoking and obesity when it comes to ranking the leading causes of death.
In one of the studies, researchers suggested one-third of adults, and close to 80 percent of adolescents worldwide, are at increased risk of disease as a result of physical inactivity.
In another, researchers at Harvard University linked physical inactivity with increased deaths from heart disease, diabetes, breast and colon cancers. They estimated not being active caused more than 5.3 million deaths in 2008 worldwide.
The Harvard team said that even with a modest 10 to 20 percent increase in physical activity, as many as 500,000 to 1.3 million lives would be saved and global life expectancy would rise by nearly a year.
“The role of physical inactivity continues to be undervalued despite robust evidence of its protective effects,” wrote Harold Kohl, a researcher at the University of Texas School of Public Health and lead author of one of the studies. “The response … has been incomplete, unfocused and most certainly understaffed. … The effect of this tardiness has been to put physical activity in reverse gear compared with population trends and advances in tobacco and alcohol control and diet.”
Kohl suggested “substantial improvements in the infrastructure of planning and policy, leadership and advocacy, workforce training and surveillance.” In other words, build things that allow people to be active.
Gregory Heath, from the University of Tennessee and lead author of one of the studies, put it this way: “Because even moderate physical activity such as walking and cycling can have substantial health benefits, understanding strategies that can increase these behaviors in different regions and cultures has become a public health priority.”
From there it is really a simple step, or series of steps. Encourage people to be active. Provide them with information on the dangers of physical inactivity. Give them incentives to be active. Build an infrastructure incorporating walking and bicycle trails that allows them to do it. This is not rocket science. It is simply common sense. < Bill Hauda is a bicyclist, veteran of some 50 marathons, including 13 in Boston; a former competitive triathlete; founder and first president of the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin; currently a BFW board member; and former director of Wisconsin’s two major cross-state bicycle tours, GRABAAWR and SAGBRAW. For more information, go to www.thelancet.com/series/physical-activity.