Inactivity leads to a multitude of physiological health concerns. Obesity, type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, high cholesterol and high blood pressure are all linked to inactive lifestyles. Which in turn increases the risk of heart attacks, strokes, many other medical conditions and even premature death.

-

“Spending too much time sitting down linked to around 70,000 deaths per year in the UK” British Medical Journal (2019)

-

Modern lifestyle does not help this situation either. With everything being deliverable to your doorstep and with the increase of the number of us doing sedentary, administrative jobs over recent decades, 39% of UK adults are now failing to meet the minimum Government recommendations for physical activity. (British heart Foundation, 2017)

-

Fortunately, by investing only a few hours of your week consistently into your health, you can have a huge impact. A meta-analysis (Ekelund et al. 2020), showed us that an average of only 30-40 minutes a day of moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity is enough to largely negate the above risks.

-

If you have a sedentary lifestyle, the best thing you can do is find an activity you can do that meets these criteria and let you reap the rewards. At Athena we deliver a busy timetable of sessions in a small group environment where you can train alongside like-minded people, all delivered by experienced coaches.  If group training isn’t for you, all of our coaches (including myself) offer 1-1 PT too. Time to take responsibility and invest in your health so you can enjoy a better quality of life.

 

References:

British Medical Journal. (2019). Spending too much time sitting down linked to around 70,000 deaths per year in the UK. Available: https://www.bmj.com/company/newsroom/spending-too-much-time-sitting-down-linked-to-around-50000-deat.... Last accessed 14th January 2022.

 

British Heart Foundation. (2017). Physical Inactivity Report 2017. Available: https://www.bhf.org.uk/informationsupport/publications/statistics/physical-inactivity-report-2017. Last accessed 14th January 2022.

 

Ekelund U, Tarp J, Fagerland MW, et al Joint associations of accelerometer-measured physical activity and sedentary time with all-cause mortality: a harmonised meta-analysis in more than 44 000 middle-aged and older individuals. British Journal of Sports Medicine 2020;54:1499-1506.