Inactivity Is Killing Us

Inactivity: a weapon of mass destruction

Inactivity is killing us. Where sometimes there is a lot of controversy in scientific articles, there is none here: inactivity is by all evidence the fourth killer in the world. Put in another way, inactivity is the cause of one in 10 deaths in the world! Research has shown that inactivity caused in 2008 as many deaths as tobacco, which means that year, 5,3 million people died because they did not move enough! Dr I-Min Lee of the Harvard Medical School in Boston links 6 to 10 % of four major killers (cardio-vascular disease, type 2 diabetes, colon and breast cancer) to the fact that people are not even moderately active. Cartoonist Glasbergen got the right message but over estimated workout time in this caption: what fits better in your busy schedule? Being active one hour a day or being dead 24 hours a day? The message is even more disturbing when the right amount of time is put in: 20 minutes of moderate activity. This is all that would be needed to save the lives of 5,3 million people worldwide.

Exercise: a weapon of mass construction

There is more. Being active does not only save lives! It increases quality of lives! It has a strong favorable effect on many diseases: Alzheimer?s disease, depression, high blood pressure, diabetes, osteoporosis and of course, obesity. We?ll cover these subjects separately in future posts. Activity has even been proven to slow aging at the chromosome level! An easy way to see this is to consider activity as the ultimate weapon of mass construction.

Four Steps to defeat inactivity

1. Commit to yourself. Your life is worth 20 minutes of your time everyday or 30 minutes 5 days a week. Remember: you are meant to be fit and healthy. Inactivity will destroy this. What you are committing is to a lifestyle change. You deserve the best!

2. Don?t be fancy! You do not need expensive gym membership or ineffective gizmos that promise you health without effort. To begin, something as simple as walking briskly everyday will put you on the right tract. The principle is simple: what you do MUST ask a little more effort to your heart, lungs and muscles than sitting in a chair? The idea is to build some reserve to help you get through life?s challenges.

3. Once you are a little more fit, and it won?t take long, you?ll be able to move on to something a little more challenging. But once again, nothing fancy! You do not need a gym membership. A home training program with some support for motivation (online support is ideal) will do.

4. Believe in yourself and believe in your success.

Ready to invest in yourself? Ready for an active lifestyle? Visit my blog at http://www.blog.fitnessmissionpossible.com, hit the ?contact me? page and tell me what type of activity you like. I?ll be glad to help you choose an activity you?ll love practicing day after day. Remember: you deserve it! Believe in yourself!

Source: http://toddsblogs.com/healthandfitness/2012/11/14/inactivity-is-killing-us/

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