Inactivity Pandemic & Obesity

The Lancet - "Inactivity is a Pandemic"

In July of 2012, The Lancet, a leading expert on global health, called physical inactivity “a pandemic with far-reaching health, economic, environmental and social consequences”. 

It was then we dug into activity trends in around the world and realized this Pandemic was not only real but getting worse. Below is research from many sources which shows how this issue is impacting more and more people, especially children.

Global & Regional Facts Concerning The Inactivity Pandemic

  Significant Global Inactivity Facts:

1. The World Health Organization, WHO, ranked ‘physical inactivity’ as the 4th leading cause of death. See the chart below. Notice how 2 of the top 3 and 4 of the 6 are highly influenced by inactivity
2. WHO reports 1.9 million deaths are attributed to physical inactivity annually
   
3. WHO also states at least 60% of the global population does not achieve the minimum recommendation of 30 minutes of moderate activity daily
4. The World Heart Federations states “Physical inactivity may be as dangerous for the heart as smoking a packet of cigarettes every day”
5. Research clearly shows an inactive child does not perform as well academically as a more active child – See 10+ studies which confirm these breakthrough findings
6. The Lancet reports physical inactivity causes 1 in 10 deaths worldwide, which is equal to smoking
7. One-Third of adults and 80% of adolescents are at high risk of disease from failing to do the recommended amount of physical activity
8. The Lancet reports that Worldwide, 31.1% of adults are inactive. The percentages by region:

• 43·3%  in the Americas
• 43·2%  in the Eastern Mediterranean
• 34·8% in Europe
• 33·7% in the western Pacific
• 27·5% of people are inactive in Africa
• 17·0% in southeast Asia
• Women are more inactive (33·9%) than are men (27·9%)

Significant Regional Inactivity Facts

1.  “Sitting is the New Smoking” - More people die from inactivity (5.3 million) each year in America than from smoking (5.0 million)
2. In the USA, 82 million are total sedentary* - This is up from 70 million in 2007, A 17% increase
3. There are 10 million totally sedentary* children in America and 33 million children who are not active to healthy standards - Look at the disturbing sedentary trends for children below
4. 24% of teens in the USA say they are online…all the time
5. In a study of 334,000 Europeans over 13 years, inactivity was responsible for twice as many deaths as obesity
6. Eurobarometer reports 59% of EU citizens never or seldom exercise or play sport at least once a week
7. The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges state that in 1949, 34% of miles traveled using a mechanical mode were by bicycle. Today only 1-2% are
8. According to the National Heart Foundation, many 9-to 5ers are more sedentary than ever but are unwilling to change their behavior despite the risks
9. "Seventy per cent of workers would prefer to be using their IT gadgets, rather than doing physical activity," said National Heart Foundation's Chief Executive Mary Barry

Global Obesity and Overweight Trends

1. Worldwide obesity has more than doubled since 1980
2. In 2014, more than 1.9 billion adults, 18 years and older, were overweight
3. Of these over 600 million were obese.39% of adults aged 18 years and over were overweight in 2014, and 13% were obese
4. Most of the world's population live in countries where overweight and obesity kills more people than underweight.42 million children under the age of 5 were overweight or obese in 2013
5. By 2015, approximately 2.3 Billion adults will be overweight and more than 700 million will be obese
6. If current trends continue the number of overweight or obese infants and young children globally will increase to 70 million by 2025
7. Without intervention, obese infants and young children will like continue to be obese during childhood and through adulthood
8. Being overweight or obese is preventable

 Worldwide Causes of Death - World Health Organization

 

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