So yesterday we heard the sobering news (in research published in the Lancet) that physical inactivity has been linked with a worrying 5.3 million deaths a year worldwide.
At the same time, a survey of 5,000 British adults conducted by the hotel chain Travelodge revealed that 80% of Brits are depressed by the appearance of their body and that 73% of women fret about their weight three times a day. Over a third of the women reported that their love lives would be better if they felt better about their body.
The level of physical activity recommended by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) is 150 minutes a week of moderate aerobic exercise. Those same 150 minutes might just help the unhappy 80% feel better about their bodies.
Now I’m not one to be smug about being sporty. Throughout my 20s and 30s I was pretty much completely inactive. I did no exercise at all, other than running for the tube or bathing my babies. Although I wasn’t overweight, I was desperately unfit and untoned and couldn’t see much in the mirror to feel proud of. Had I carried on in the same career, I imagine that by now nothing would have changed. I’d still be risking my health by failing to exercise and would just be an older, flabbier version of that same, unfit person.
I may have changed my ways, but I’ll never feel I have the right to judge anyone who has the same lifestyle that I had; the only difference is that I got ill enough to be forced to change – and was lucky enough to fall in love with a demanding sport that can’t be done in front of the telly. I’ve also known seriously old people who’ve never knowingly broken into a run and sporty types who have died of heart attacks. There are no guarantees of anything when it comes to health.
All I’ll say is this. If you’re one of the ones who get their 150 minutes a week, take a moment to be grateful that you’re in a position to (and are motivated enough) to do this; the stats are on your side. And if you’re not? Rest assured that I won’t judge you. But if you fancy joining me for a walk with the dog or a paddle on the river, I promise you won’t regret it.
