New research shows the world is more sedentary than ever

This text was written by a TecMundo columnist; learn more at the end.

The world is out of the way to improve your physical activity levelThis is the news based on a new study published by the World Health Organization (WHO) on the physical activity levels of the world’s population.

Data collected between 2000 and 2022 from 163 countries, home to 5.7 million people, shows that one-third of adults (31%) are not physically active, meaning they do not meet the recommendations for 150 minutes (2.5 hours) of movement per day per week. Learn more about the research below.

Physical activity in the world

This is an update on how much physical activity is happening around the world, as the survey is the largest population base surveyed since 2016, when 27% of adults were physically inactive. The trend towards reduced physical activity has been evident for decades; in 2000 the prevalence of physical inactivity was 23%.

Everything suggests that we will not meet the WHO target of reducing physical inactivity by 15% by 2030. More than half of countries are going in the opposite direction; in addition to not reducing it, they are increasing their levels of physical inactivity.

Are men or women more active?

The gender gap continues as women are less active, with 34% of women inactive compared to 29% of men, a difference of 5%.

Oceania had the lowest prevalence of insufficient activity among world regions, which is a positive result. The Asia-Pacific region had the highest prevalence in the world. In all regions of the world, older people were less active than younger people. Only a few high-income European countries came close to the World Health Organization’s recommended reductions in physical inactivity.

The estimate is that one-third of the world’s population, or 1.8 billion people, are physically inactive. If trends observed from this study continue, the prevalence of physical inactivity will reach 34% by 2030, meaning the epidemic of physical inactivity will continue to grow and worsen.

What about the children?

Another study published the same week found that children who have to move a lot (around 3 hours a day) due to the large number of children worldwide follow the same path as their parents and are not very active. The percentage of 3 and 4 year olds who meet this recommendation is only 31%.

Other researchers have weighed in on the results, emphasizing the importance of differentiating the type of physical activity, as movements manifest themselves in four areas:

• Domestic: daily activities such as house cleaning;
• Occupational: occurs during work;
• Transportation: active commuting, such as biking to work;
• In free time: In free time, when we choose a sport to practice.

The area where we have the best type of physical activity for health is the last area, leisure, especially if we think about mental health, since in the first three areas there is usually mandatory physical activity and it is not always an option for the individual to choose.

Other researchers believe in radical changes that will change the scenario. such as a four-day work week, universal basic income and free physical activity opportunities.

In fact, it will take a multi-sector effort to tackle a multi-factorial problem. Blaming individuals for not acting is unfair and does not serve change.

When we get the impression that more people exercise than we observe in our social circles, we may be mistaken for conformity bias.

This is a mental shortcut that occurs when we are surrounded by examples of people exercising and we draw a conclusion based on it, but this perception unfortunately does not reflect the world scenario.

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Fabio Dominski He holds a PhD in Human Movement Sciences and a degree in Physical Education from the State University of Santa Catarina (UDESC). He is a university professor and researcher at the Laboratory of Sport and Exercise Psychology (LAPE/UDESC). He does scientific dissemination on social media there podcast available on SpotifyAuthor of Physical Exercise and Science – Facts and Myths.