IRELAND IS THE seventh worst country in the world for exercise, according to a new study, which suggested that a lack of exercise is killing as many people as smoking.
53.2 per cent of Irish people fail to do sufficient exercise, compared to 40.5 per cent in America, the report, published in a series of articles in the British medical journal The Lancet revealed. It found that within Europe, the people of Greece, Estonia and the Netherlands are the most active. The greatest prevalance of inactive adults was recorded in Malta (71.9 per cent) and Serbia (68.3 per cent).
Researchers said that the public needs to be warned about the risks of not exercising. It recommended that adults spend 150 minutes every week engaging in moderate exercise, such as brisk walking, cycling and gardening.
“With the upcoming 2012 Olympic Games, sport and physical activity will attract tremendous worldwide attention” said Pedro Hallal, one of the lead researchers in the report.
Although the world will be watching elite athletes from many countries compete in sporting events… most spectators will be quite inactive.The global challenge is clear – make physical activity a public health priority throughout the world to improve health and reduce the burden of disease.
The study comes a month after the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine reported that global adult human biomass was approximately 287 million tonnes, of which 15 million tonnes were due to overweight. It said that North America has 6 per cent of the world population but 34 per cent of global biomass due to obesity.
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