Smoking or inactivity, which is worse?

Voluntary physical inactivity now tops smoking for association to non-communicable diseases tied to premature death. This recent report was published (July 2012) in a series of articles in the journal The Lancet looking at the global problem of inactivity and obesity. Amazingly our self-selection and decision to be inactive is causing disease and shortening our lives slightly more than one’s choice to smoke. I know some will say; they have the right to choose to do with their body what they want. While this is true, unfortunately those choices our costing our society billions of dollars in unneeded health care costs. And that choice is taking days away from our loved ones with premature death. While it may be difficult to get many inactive people to change their ways, the research report showed that if we could get just 1 person active out of every 4 inactive people then 1.3 million deaths could be prevented every year.

The risks associated with smoking have been known for a long time and heavy media and public awareness campaigns have been under way for many years to alert people to these risks. You can’t buy cigarettes without seeing the large warning label on it. You see billboards and TV ads on a regular basis alerting us and trying to get people never to start or stop smoking if they already have. Also many good programs and efforts are in place to assist those that do smoke to help them break the addiction and try and become smoke free. The money spent on these things is well worth it, because we know the expense of taking care of health related problems with smoking far outweighs the cost of these awareness campaigns. Maybe it is time to start some campaigns similar to those when it comes to inactivity?

We here in America have always been known for our innovation and bringing many things to the rest of the world; democracy, space travel and now…inactivity. According to the latest information 31.1% of the world’s adults are sedentary and do not meet the minimum recommendations for activity in a week. Current minimum requirements are 150 minutes of moderate activity (i.e. walking) per week. Here in America we top the scales at 43.4% of us not meeting these requirements, and it looks as if the rest of world is following our example with increased inactivity in many other parts of the world.

Are you getting in 30 minutes of physical activity a day? Did you realize a choice to be inactive carries just as much risk for disease and premature death as someone who smokes? Exercise and being physically active has substantial health benefits, just 30 minutes a day is all it takes to become a healthier you. Maybe we here in America we can reverse our trendsetting with inactivity and look to become more active. Being a world leader is usually a good thing; leading it to an earlier death is not so good.