By Richard Tardif
The common mantra in the last 20 years is that generations are sitting long and endless hours working behind desks, playing video games, and driving more and this is leading to obesity. This lifestyle isn’t helpful. This is touted as evidence that exercise is paramount to reducing obesity, and it seems reasonable to expect obesity rates to fall as exercise rates increase.
In the last ten years, it has been suggested that increasing exercise does not reduce obesity, and it’s not our sedentary ways leading to obesity. Here are some numbers, for those of you who like numbers.
In 2012, the British Heart Foundation found that in the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2008, regular exercise increased from 32 percent to 39 percent in men and 21 percent to 29 percent in women. In the same year, an eight-country survey revealed that Americans exercised the most—135 days per year compared to a global average of 112 days.
Not enough to sway you?
A 2013 survey of 8,000 people living in Europe and the US found that an average of 72 percent of people set fitness goals. While nearly a third (29 percent) claims to hit their target most of the time, five percent always fail, and 11 percent plan to do less exercise in the future. From 2001 to 2011, there was a general increase in physical activity. In the US, certain areas (Kentucky, Virginia, Florida and the Carolinas) increased exercise. Whether physical activity increases or decreases, it has no relationship to obesity. Obesity increased by the same amount.
As I have said many times, there are hundreds of reasons to exercise, and don’t stop. It’s the foods, the quality, we eat over time that determines rates of obesity, and what we consume is closely linked to poverty. Indeed, poverty plays a role here. In 2015, a well-publicized study by researchers at the University of Washington over two years found that a 2,000-calorie diet of junk food costs 10 times less than a 2,000-calorie healthy diet. This low cost of fast food may encourage people to choose it over more expensive healthier food. And healthier foods are more likely to increase in cost over time. During the study, the cost of healthy food went up by 19.5 percent while the cost of unhealthy food dropped by 1.8 percent. Globally, the data is similar.
Prolonged sitting, whether behind our desks or at the wheel, as the cause of obesity, sounds reasonable at first, but this, like many things in the fitness industry, is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Richard Tardif is a personal fitness trainer, author, and an award-winning journalist writing teaching about health and wellness. Richard’s first book Stop the Denial: A Case for Embracing the Truth about Fitness, challenges, surprises, and inspires you to embrace a fitness lifestyle that will work in achieving your individual goals.
Read a review of his book here
