We all know that a sedentary lifestyle negatively affects our health. But how bad is it actually? The current recommended levels of physical activity for Australian adults is 150 to 300 minutes of moderate to intense physical activity, or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous intense physical activity, or a combination of these two. Do you meet this criteria? If you don’t, you make up 56% of Australian adults who are either inactive, or have low levels of physical activity; that is more than 9.5 million adults!
The effects of physical inactivity include:
- An increase in the risk of certain cancers
- A contribution to anxiety and depression
- Physical inactivity has been shown to be a risk factor for certain cardiovascular diseases
- It increases your chances of developing coronary heart disease
- Physical Inactivity makes you more likely to be overweight or obese
- It can cause a decrease in skeletal muscle mass
- High blood pressure and elevated cholesterol levels
How Technology Affects Our Lives
We all love technology and the level of convenience that it has added to our lifestyles. But the reality is that our body is not adapting to this rapid change (those damn screen times!).
Add Up All Of The Time You Spend Sitting In Front Of A Screen.
If you add up all of the time that you spend sitting for breakfast, dinner, driving, watching television, playing games, reading books etc… You can see why Physiotherapists are in high demand!
We all know that a sedentary lifestyle negatively affects our health. But how bad is it actually?
The current recommended levels of physical activity for Australian adults is 150 to 300 minutes of moderate to intense physical activity, or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous intense physical activity. Or a combination of these two.
Do You Meet This Criteria?
If you don’t, you make up 56% of Australian adults who are either inactive, or have low levels of physical activity. That is more than 9.5 million adults!
As most modern jobs are desk based, we spend up to 40 hours a week sitting (not to even mention that some full-time workers work longer hours).
All It Takes Is 15 Minutes Of Brisk Walking, At Least 5 Days Each Week.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, “If all Australians did an extra 15 minutes of brisk walking for at least five days each week. This would reduce disease burden due to physical activity in the population by approximately 13%.
By increasing this to 30 minutes, the burden of disease attributed to physical activity could be reduced by 26%”.
So let’s get moving!
Simply go for a brisk walk during your lunch break, take breaks to stand up and walk to the printer that is furthest away from you or the rubbish bin, and stand whilst having your coffee. And together with your help, we can work to keep your body happy and healthy.
If you’d like some more advice from a Physio regarding how you can improve your fitness levels, press this link.
This blog was written by Christina Hwang from the Gawler Place practice.
