Laziness can prove deadly

LAZINESS is killing tens of thousands of Australians a year and costing the health system $4.5 billion annually.

In a damning new YouGov survey on health and happiness, one in four Australians – five million of us – admitted to not exercising at all.

But the good news is one in every six deaths is preventable and tens of thousands of Australians could avoid dying from our biggest killers – cancer and heart disease.

The Cancer Council said physical inactivity is responsible for 14 per cent of bowel cancers, 11 per cent of postmenopausal breast cancers, and causes 357 cancer deaths a year.

The majority (84 per cent) of Australians said they faced barriers to getting more exercise and 37 per cent said “laziness” was the key reason they don’t exercise.

Additionally, Australians are not having free cancer screening or protecting themselves from the sun, they are drinking too much alcohol and the decline in smoking rates has plateaued.

A News Corp investigation has found tens of thousands of Australians could avoid dying from our biggest killers, cancer and heart disease, by adopting a few simple lifestyle changes.

The major preventable risk factors for heart disease are: • tobacco smoking;

• high blood pressure;

• high blood cholesterol; • being overweight; • insufficient physical activity;

• high alcohol use and; • type 2 diabetes.

In other findings; not eating fruit and vegetables or fibre and eating too much red meat causes over 7000 cancers and 2329 preventable deaths each year in Australia. Over 16,700 cancer deaths, 41,200 cancer cases and up to 13,000 heart disease deaths a year are attributable to poor lifestyle.