“Against sedentary lifestyle, there is an urgent need to act” – OI Canadian

PBecause it causes 10% of premature deaths worldwide, the fight against the sedentary lifestyle pandemic is a major health challenge in the 21st century.^e century. It is urgent to act.

First of all, there is an urgent need to defuse what we have described, with my former colleague (LRM) Marie Tamarelle-Verhaeghe, as “health time bomb” in our report on the parliamentary evaluation of “public health prevention policies” published in July 2021. There is then an urgent need to include this issue as a major challenge for public action to be taken up for the next decade.

A sedentary lifestyle plagues our lifestyles and more particularly that of the younger generations. The time spent lying down or sitting, in particular in front of leisure screens, is estimated at 55% of the day for schoolchildren and 75% for adolescents.

including gardening

The National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety (ANSES) alerts us to the fact that in 2015, well before the health crisis, 50% of 11-17 year olds had a health risk. very high due to a sedentary lifestyle, with more than four and a half hours in front of screens and less than twenty minutes of physical activity per day.

Moreover, 95% of the general population does not do enough physical activity. Sports cardiologist François Carré observed in 2021 that, if a child goes to bed at 8 p.m. and is taken to school the next morning by car at the last moment, “He won’t start moving until the first recess, at 10 o’clock. In fourteen hours he [n’aura] only fifty paces! »

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However, as a 2019 study from the American Cancer Society shows, it is enough to replace thirty minutes of daily sedentary life with thirty minutes of physical activity – even of moderate intensity, including gardening – to reduce by 17% premature mortality and a 30% risk of cardiovascular accidents. If this activity is more intense, the reduction in premature mortality is 35%.

The fight against physical inactivity must be the priority, a common thread for public health prevention policies at all ages of life. One response to this challenge is to promote regular physical activity. It is the first lever in the fight against a sedentary lifestyle and the best shield to protect your health.

New pedagogies from an early age

The health crisis has demonstrated this by making it, after the factor of age, overweight and obesity, a risk factor for severe form of Covid. According to a British study published in April 2021, between 75% and 85% of patients with Covid in intensive care have a body mass index greater than 25. And beyond the pandemic, physical activity is a formidable prevention lever chronic diseases: cancers, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, etc.

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