If you think being a couch potato is a strictly American phenonemon, think again.
Harold W. Kohl III, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Texas School of Public Health, has a paper out this week in The Lancet calling physical inactivity — and its consequences — a global pandemic.
Urbanization and development are partly to blame: many people no longer work in the fields or do other physically intensive work. Kids watch television. People who once were malnourished are now overweight.
Kohl said the impact of inactivity goes beyond flabby bellies. It is the fourth leading cause of death worldwide, despite the fact that the benefits of physical activity have been known for more than 50 years.
“Although regular physical activity is critical for weight control, it is equally or more important for lowering risk of many different chronic diseases, such as heart disease, some cancers, osteoporosis and diabetes,” he said.
Kohl, who is also a professor of kinesiology at the University of Texas at Austin, argues in the paper — one of a series of papers on physical activity published in the latest issue of the British medical journal — that people in a position to make a difference in public policy continue to undervalue physical activity.
The World Health Organization reported that one-third of people 15 and older globally were insufficiently active in 2008; about 3.2 million deaths a year are attributed to insufficient physical activity.
Kohl and other researchers say promoting physical activity needs to become a public health priority, much like anti-tobacco and alcohol campaigns. But they warn that traditional approaches focused on the benefits to individual health won’t be enough.
To read the paper, along with others in the series, go here: