People who do not participate in any physical activity have a double risk of death compared to obese people, according to a study.
Exercise is a matter of survival. Sedentary lifestyle is one of the major causes of death in the world. This scourge far exceeds that of obesity, which already kills 3 million people each year.
Early death
To demonstrate this, researchers used data from 334,000 Europeans, followed over 12 years for the purposes of the European Cancer and Nutrition Prospective Study (EPIC). Among the cohort, nearly a quarter of people (22.7%) were in the “inactive” category (sedentary job, total absence of sporting leisure and physical activity).
According to the study’s authors, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, these subjects are more at risk of developing pathologies and dying prematurely, compared to those who practice an activity, even very reduced.
In addition, by crossing these data with those of the WHO, the researchers realized that of the 9.2 million deaths that occurred in Europe in 2008, 337,000 were due to obesity … and double (676,000) to physical inactivity.
20 minute walk to reverse the trend
However, moving from the “inactive” category to the “active” box does not require a disproportionate investment. Only 20 minutes of daily walking (equivalent to a hundred calories burned) would reduce the risk of premature death. This reduction is between 16 and 30%.
“Despite this, we should be doing more than 20 minutes of walking a day,” writes Ulf Ekelund, who heads the Cambridge University epidemiology team behind the study. Physical activity has proven health benefits and should become more of a part of our daily life ”.
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