Lhe fight against the sedentary lifestyle pandemic is a major health issue in the 21ste century. According to recent estimates by American and Canadian epidemiologists published in the British Medical Journal of Sports Medicine, physical inactivity is responsible for 7.2% of deaths from all causes each year, or more than 4 million deaths out of the 56.9 million people who die on average each year. 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! »
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 for protecting your health.
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