CONSEQUENCES OF SEDENTARY BEHAVIOUR

The current pace of life of the developed countries causes that people spend a lot of time seated or standing still. Due to industrialization, urbanization and mechanization, domestic tasks, workplace conditions and daily transport have changed. On average, adults spend 56% of their waking hours in sedentary activities (9.3 hours/day aprox.). However, only about 4% of the leisure time corresponds to moderate to vigorous physical activity.

Being physically inactive is nowadays one of the most important public issues. It’s the cause of the increased risk of obesity, chronic diseases (such as type 2 diabetes), cardiovascular diseases, falls, osteoporosis, aging leading to Alzheimer’s disease and other diseases. Moreover, physical  inactivity  is  also  a  high  risk  factor  for  high blood  cholesterol,  atherosclerosis, musculoskeletal  disorder,  anxiety  and  depression. In some developed countries, physical inactivity is becoming an epidemic and contributes to increase medical care costs.

Sedentary lifestyle has become an underappreciated cause of chronic diseases, making the mortality due to different health problems increase from 30 to 50%. The impact of physical inactivity on the incidence of several chronic diseases is summarized in Table 1.

Published by Kruk (2014)

According to WHO Global Status Report, over 31% of peoples aged 15 years or older do not meet the WHO’s.  The WHO recommendations say that healthy adults should practice at least 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity 5 or more days per week, in addition to daily life activities such as walking, going up/down stairs, garden tasks, cleaning the house, etc. to improve their state of health and quality of life. Additional physical activity (longer duration or greater intensity) improves even more the state of health.

You can find more information about this topic in the following papers:

Booth, F. W., Roberts, C. K., Thyfault, J. P., Ruegsegger, G. N., & Toedebusch, R. G. (2017). Role of Inactivity in Chronic Diseases: Evolutionary Insight and Pathophysiological Mechanisms. Physiological Reviews, 97(4), 1351–1402. 

Kruk, J. (2014). Health and Economic Costs of Physical Inactivity. Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention, 15(18), 7499–7503. 

World  Health  Organization (2010). Global recommendations on physical activity for health. Geneva: World Health Organization, 60. 

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