Do you know what is really bad for your health?

Have a close look at the following image (I saw a similar image in an article or documentary about health a few years ago.)

Okay, have a closer look at all the items you see in the image and pick the one that is the worst for your health. Let me caution you that most probably you will pick the wrong one. Coke? Butter? Cake? Meat?

Well, the correct answer is Chair. Surprised? No doubt, coke, butter and meat are not so good for our health, but we harm our health more by remaining sitting on the chair, i.e. by following a sedentary lifestyle. No doubt, you can improve your health by consuming less sugar/sugary drinks, and cutting down on processed and fatty foods, and by increasing fresh fruits and vegetables in your diet, however, doing regular physical exercises will bring better health benefits, but for that you need to get up from that chair, sofa or bed.

If you do a Google search on benefits of physical exercise on human health, you come across a number of benefits, such as

1. It lowers risk of heart diseases and stroke.
2. It lowers blood pressure and improves cholesterol levels.
3. It reduces the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
4. It helps in weight management and reduces chances of being overweight or obese.
5. It helps in keeping the thinking, learning and judgment skills sharp as you age.
6. It strengthens bones and muscles, and helps to do daily activities with ease. For old people, it helps in reducing risk of falling and the injuries due to falls.
7. It helps in reducing the development of some types of cancer.
8. It helps improve mood, energy level, sleep and sex life.
9. And many more…

According to Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, 2nd Edition,

“Today, about half of all American adults — 117 million people — have one or more preventable chronic diseases. Seven of the ten most common chronic diseases are favorably influenced by regular physical activity. This lack of physical activity is linked to approximately $117 billion in annual health care costs and about 10 percent of premature mortality.”

According to the fact sheet, “Obesity and overweight” by World Health Organization:

• Worldwide obesity has nearly tripled since 1975.
• In 2016, more than 1.9 billion adults, 18 years and older, were overweight. Of these over 650 million were obese.
• 39% of adults aged 18 years and over were overweight in 2016, and 13% were obese.
• Most of the world’s population live in countries where overweight and obesity kills more people than underweight.

According to the same report, the following is one of the two reasons for the obesity and overweight problem:

“an increase in physical inactivity due to the increasingly sedentary nature of many forms of work, changing modes of transportation, and increasing urbanization.”

(The other reason: an increased intake of energy-dense foods that are high in fat and sugars.)

I agree that the changed lifestyle and nature of work is making people physically inactive, but aren’t we supposed to take care of our health? When we know very well that a sedentary lifestyle will lead to bad health and an active lifestyle will help improve our health, what is stopping us from adopting it?

The American Heart Association (AHA) and The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada recommend at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activities per week — the more, the better. Let me assure you that it is not difficult to achieve this target — you don’t need to join a Gym; you just need to think outside the box!

When I moved to Canada about 25 years ago, my first apartment was on 16th level — actually it was 15th as there was no 13th level. There were only two elevators in the building and during morning and evening rush hours, the wait time to find space in the elevator was quite long, therefore I decided to take the stairs instead of waiting for the elevator. It saved me time and I got free exercise!

For two years, my office was located on the 9th floor, and I don’t think I used the elevator more than a few dozen times. On the other side of the road, there was a big Bell Canada building with a huge surface parking lot. Every day, I noticed that while most people would try to park their car as close to the building entrance as possible, however, one guy would park at farthest distance from the entrance, even during bad weather. Why? Just to get some free physical exercise, I believe.

After two years, when I changed my job, my office ended up on the ground floor in a 3 storey building. I missed the stairs from my previous building, but even this building had 40 stairs. So, every time I would leave my desk for the washroom, I would go up and down those 40 stairs a few times. And, I made the best use of my 1 hour long lunch break by eating my lunch in 5–10 minutes and walking/jogging the rest of the time. On the contrary, most of my colleagues used to spend their lunch hour sitting at their desk and watching stuff on their phone or computer.

In the beginning of my life in Canada, we had only one car that was shared by my wife and me. Fortunately, our offices were in the same direction but still quite far from each other. In the morning, she would drop me about 3 Km from my office and then continue to her office. She asked me to take a bus from that point, but instead I walked that distance and saved the bus fare, and got free exercise in nature. This continued for almost one year, and I never used the bus, even during harsh winter.

About 6 years ago, my mother, 80 years old, started developing type 2 diabetes. Her family physician prescribed a small dose of Metformin and also advised to increase physical activities. My mother started walking about 1 hour everyday. During the regular blood tests, the physician noticed that my mother’s blood glucose levels have started falling. In about a year or so, my mother’s glucose level became normal and she was taken off the diabetes medicine completely. She remained off the diabetes medication for almost 3 years. Now, my mother is back on diabetes medication, but the dosage is very small.

According to Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, 2nd Edition,

“Regular physical activity strongly reduces the risk of developing type 2 diabetes in people of all body sizes. Physical activity can have an additive benefit for reducing risk of type 2 diabetes because physical activity reduces the risk of excessive weight gain, an independent risk factor for type 2 diabetes.”

Final Thoughts

When I look at the health of people in my friends and family circle, I notice a clear positive correlation between physical activity levels and good health.

You don’t need to join a Gym to be physically active — you can easily complete 60 minutes or more of physical activities by being a little innovative. My favourite physical activities are brisk walking, yoga, gardening, stairs climbing and jogging, and these cost me nothing. So, don’t miss any opportunity to be physically active — take stairs instead of an elevator if you work or live in a high rise building, walk your child to the school, get down a stop or two before your destination on bus/subway and walk the last mile, do gardening, walk while talking on the phone, and so on.

You can live the initial two-thirds of you life without any serious problems, even if you are not physically active, however, if you want to enjoy the last one-third, think about being physically active as soon as possible — you don’t want to regret this in the last phase of your life.

Consider reading Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, 2nd Edition — it contains very useful information and will motivate you in the right direction.

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