Physical Inactivity is a Global Pandemic

Physical inactivity is a global pandemic, contributing to substantial disease and economic burden worldwide...

This latest research[1] provides the most comprehensive global estimates of the prevalence and trends of physical activity to date and shows that over one quarter of the world's adult population are insufficiently active.

What's more worrying is that this statistic hasn't improved over the last 15 years despite the attempts of government agencies and the World Health Organisation.

Other interesting take-aways are that women are less active than men in most countries and higher income countries are more than twice as inactive as lower income counties which has gotten worse by over 30% since 2001.

Clearly much more needs to be done to encourage people to increase their physical activity levels but as adults, we need to start taking responsibility for ourselves and take action now, not wait until disease strikes or waiting for the government to implement more "schemes and strategies".

A good start would be to track your daily steps for 7 days and see what your daily average is. Ideally you want to be doing between 7,000-10,000 steps a day.

I do on average 10,000-11,000 steps per day. I walk to and from work (only 5 mins each way mind) but I am on my feet most of the day which helps rack up those steps. If you're sat in the office all day then you might need to make a conscious effort to go for a 20-30 minute walk after work or 10-15 mins at lunch time or something.

What gets measured gets managed; do you know how many steps you're taking per day?

All smart phones have the ability to track your steps so use that as a tracking tool. Let me know in the comments how many steps you take per day and share this post with anyone you think needs to move more.

[1]Guthold R. Stevens GA. Riley LM. Bull FC. Worldwide trends in insufficient physical activity from 2001 to 2016: a pooled analysis of 358 population-based surveys with 1·9 million participants. Lancet Glob Health. 2018; (published online Sept 4.) https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(18)30357-7/fulltext