World Health Organization Laments Lack of Physical Activity

The World Health Organization has released a report concluding that lack of physical activity has produced significant health issues world-wide.  The report says that this situation will result in a cost of $27 billion annually between 2022 and 2030 for the 500 million individuals that will be affected by non-communicable diseases like hyper-tension, diabetes, heart disease and many others.

 

A major contributor to the problem has been the response of governments to the Covid-19 pandemic, which includes advice to stay at home and not engage in physical activity in group formats. In the US, home of the generally most obese population on earth, a sedentary life style is more common than in less developed countries where daily life that includes walking and physical labor is normal.

 (Michael Siluk/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

In fact, almost any technological "advance" that can decrease or eliminate physical effort is greeted with enthusiasm by the Yankee. School children ride buses or are delivered to classes by their parents rather than walking or riding bikes. The parking lots of commercial gyms and fitness centers are filled with the cars of members who have driven to those locations rather than having walked. Riding lawn mowers enable the suburbanite to sit down while trimming the grass. Recreational boating requires expensive watercraft with sophisticated and powerful engines rather than oars or paddles. Bicycles are considered children's toys, rather than alternative forms of transportation.

Foremost among the retreats from physical activity is the concept of "handicapped parking". Government requirements that spaces near commercial locations reserve parking spots for those that have talked a physician into providing them documentation of a "handicap" flies in the very face of the WHO conclusion. These spaces indicate an acceptance of the idea that those handicapped in a particular way benefit from a lack of physical effort, that the handicapped don't need exercise. This is ridiculous. The very first treatments for stroke and injury victims is physical therapy, which is usually uncomfortable, at least in the beginning. Walking from the Prius to the front door of the supermarket and back might be the only exercise of the week for some people.

Don't expect the WHO report or this post to have any effect on the majority of developed world residents. They are generally devoted to sloth and reluctant to engage in personal physical effort, being more enthusiastic about the vicarious thrill of watching professional athletes.