A: Regular moderate physical activity is one of the easiest ways to improve and maintain your health. It has the potential to prevent and control certain diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, obesity and osteoporosis. Being physically active increases your energy level helps to reduce stress and lowers unhealthy levels of cholesterol and blood pressure. It also lowers your risk of some cancers, especially colon cancer. Regular active play promotes healthy growth and development in children and young people. It increases confidence, self-esteem and feelings of achievement, older adults benefit from both life-long habits or newly learned routines of physical activity. It is important for healthy ageing, improving and maintaining quality of life and independence. Daily physical activity helps people with disabilities by improving mobility and increasing energy levels. It can also prevent or reduce certain disabilities.

A: Physical activity is any body movement that results in an expenditure of energy (burning calories). Simply put, moving! When you walk briskly, play, skate, clean house, or climb stairs, you are moving for health.

Is sedentary lifestyle really a global public health problem?
Aren’t there more important health priorities, especially in poor countries?

A: The lack of physical activity is a major underlying cause of death, disease, and disability. Preliminary data from a WHO study on risk factors suggest that inactivity, or sedentary lifestyle, is one of the 10 global leading causes of death and disability. More than two million deaths each year are attributable to physical inactivity. In countries around the world between 60% and 85% of adults are simply not active enough to benefit their health. Sedentary lifestyles increase all causes of mortality, double the risk of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and obesity, and substantially increase the risks of colon cancer, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, depression and anxiety. In the rapidly growing cities of the developing world, crowding, poverty, crime, traffic, poor air quality, a lack of parks, sidewalks, sports and recreation facilities and other safe areas make physical activity a difficult choice. Even in rural areas of developing countries sedentary pastimes such as watching television are increasingly popular. In addition to other lifestyle changes, the consequences are growing levels of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. Low- and middle-income countries suffer the greatest impact from these and other non-communicable diseases – 77% of the total number of deaths caused by non-communicable diseases occur in developing countries. These diseases are on the rise. They will have an increasingly severe effect on health care systems, resources, and economies in countries around the world. Many countries that are already struggling to manage the impact of infectious diseases and other development challenges will be forced to spend their limited resources dealing with non-communicable diseases.

How much physical activity do I need in order to improve and maintain my health?

A: Any amount of physical activity will make you feel better. The minimum amount of physical activity required for the prevention of disease is about 30 minutes of moderate activity, every day. For those who count calories, this translates into about 150 calories per day. However, you can move for health without calculating calories. The formula is simple: at least half an hour of moderate physical activity over the course of each day. This can mean getting off the bus two stops early on the way to work, for a 20 minute walk and then one stop early on the way home for another 10 minutes of walking. Ten minutes of cleaning house twice a day plus 10 minutes of cycling. A 30 minute basketball game with your brothers, sisters, friends, or children. If you’re new to physical activity, you can start with a few minutes of activity a day and gradually increase your pace, working your way up to 30 minutes. Remember that half an hour is only the minimum recommendation. Of course, the more time you spend moving for health, the more you gain. The most important thing is to move!

A: Most non-communicable diseases are preventable. Individual and government action can save lives and livelihoods. Getting physically active is an important step in moving for health. However, physical inactivity is not merely the result of an individual’s lifestyle choices. The lack of access to safe open spaces, sports facilities and school playgrounds can make moving difficult, if not sometimes impossible. Moreover, people’s behavior is influenced by insufficient knowledge about physical activity and its benefits. With insufficient budgets to promote physical activity, governments often fail to educate the public about the risks of sedentary lifestyle. Government policies and programmes can have a great impact on people’s ability to influence their own health. In order to promote physical activity, a community should prioritize and develop parks and open spaces, clean air and water, safe and attractive streets and a vibrant public life. This requires the commitment, action and cooperation of health sector as well as other sectors: transport, environment, urban planning and law enforcement. Many cities and towns have demonstrated that more opportunities to move for health can be created. Riverside avenues in Paris, France, are closed to cars during the summer for walkers, skaters, and bikers. In Bogotá, Colombia, a city ordinance allows for the city’s main avenue to be closed to automobile traffic every Sunday. The local Red Cross organizes free bicycles loaned to the public throughout the summer in Geneva, Switzerland.

A: It’s easy, free, and fun and virtually anyone can do it…Brisk walking and biking are only some ways to be physically active. You can get moving at school, home or work. Take the stairs instead of the elevator (at least for going down!). Do simple stretching exercises while seated at your desk, standing at your post, or talking on the phone. Walk, run or bike to places where you might have taken a car or a bus otherwise. Many of the activities you can do at home are very useful: wash the windows, paint the walls, vacuum or sweep, rake the yard or cut the grass. You can even do physical activity while watching television: rope skipping, stepping, riding a stationary bicycle, a trade mill or sit-ups. Your goal is to be active for at least 30 minutes over the course of every day. Look for information and advice in your neighborhood, community centers, hospitals or healthcare centers, gyms or sports centers.

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