Over 1.4 billon adults globally at risk of disease from lack of exercise, reveals WHO study

A recent study by the World Health Organization (WHO) has found that more than 1.4 billion people across the globe are not doing enough physical exercise, putting themselves at heightened risk of deadly diseases.

The activity level has remained unchanged globally in nearly two decades. The study reveals that countries having high-income, including the UK, were among the least active leading to higher risk of health issues like heart disease, type-2 diabetes and cancer.

"Insufficient physical activity is a leading risk factor for non-communicable diseases, and has a negative effect on mental health and quality of life," the world exercise levels study published by The Lancet Global Health Journal said.

According to the researchers, there has been no improvement in physical activity levels since 2001, despite numerous public health initiatives talking about the benefits of exercise. During 2016, activity levels of 1.9 million people in 168 countries around the world were tracked.

"We definitely haven't done enough" to encourage people to exercise, the lead study author of WHO, Regina Guthold, told AFP. "We have seen basically no progress," she added.

As per the reports, there were various reasons due to which some countries were more active than others, including "biological, psychosocial, institutional, cultural and environmental barriers", said Melody Ding of the University of Sydney.

Kuwait, American Samoa, Saudi Arabia and Iraq are the four countries where more than half of adults have been categorized as insufficiently active.

Ding considers the environment as one of the biggest barriers for people. She says "physical activity has been engineered out of life, with desk-based jobs replacing labour jobs, lifts replacing stairs, cars replacing active travel." The advancement in technology has made people's life more convenient but also less active, said Ding.

Adults should perform minimum 150 minutes "moderate-intensity" exercise, such as brisk walking, swimming or gentle cycling every week, or 75 minutes "vigorous-intensity" activity -- running or team sports-- recommends WHO.