Move it, add extra years to your life

Get up, stand up, move about, make a difference to your health. How often have we heard that and yet do nothing to change our lackadaisical behaviour that is putting our lives at risk. Our energy levels are declining because our food habits are far from perfect as we rush to beat deadlines (and traffic). Fast food, junk snacks, anything that fends off hunger pangs. We blame it on the stresses of life and growing responsibilities while we are caught up in the rat race that is taking us nowhere, or to a hospital, even to an early grave. Our medical bills are soaring with our copious consumption patterns while we throw it all away with our reckless lifestyles. Truth is, we have lost our natural instinct for staying in sound health and are instead looking for myriad treatments to medical problems that can be prevented in the first place. Physical activity is what doctors suggest when our weight is above the prescribed limits for your age. This means 30 minutes of exercise daily. It also means walking about in office and not getting stuck to our desk.

The WHO study says that 1.5 billion people are at risk from not doing any exercise — a sobering thought. The WHO trotted out the usual woes from lack of physical activity. They sound familiar: cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, dementia, and some cancers. The global target of reducing sedentary lifestyles by 10 per cent by 2025 seems distant. So what went wrong with the state of the health of the world? What’s clear is that richer countries have larger obesity and fitness problems. They lack almost nothing while poorer countries like Uganda do the most “natural” physical activity. People walk to work and back, for many miles. They are in step with their professions and their possessions, literally. They live off the land, tending cattle or growing crops while city slickers revel in urban comforts. Exercise is not part of their regimen; it’s that thing they do, a chore. This lack of fitness is a rich malaise that needs to be addressed before it’s too late. Dubai is already moving with a fitness challenge planned next month. Other cities must follow suit. The data is stark, but the good news is that simple steps could put people into the swing of things when it comes to fitness. Why wait? Move it.