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SA home to worst couch potatoes
24/08/2007 20:29 - (SA)
Cape Town - Get off your butt. That's the message from health experts in a new study that shows South Africans are among the worst couch potatoes in the world.
"South Africa stands out as having a particularly high prevalence of physical inactivity," they said in the latest issue of the SA Medical Journal (SAMJ).
Just under half of all women and 43% of men did not have enough exercise, compared with a global average of 17%, or with the rest of Africa's average of about 10%.
The study, by experts from the Medical Research Council's Burden of Disease Research Unit, the Sports Science Institute, and the British National Centre for Physical Activity and Health, was published as part of a special SAMJ supplement on risks to health.
60 minutes of vigorous exercise
They estimated inactivity accounted for just under a third of all heart attacks, over a quarter of all colon cancer, and 20% of type 2 diabetes, in both men and women; and for 17% of breast cancer in women.
It was not clear why South Africans were particularly inactive, they said.
"Evidence exists of associations between urbanisation, increase availability of motorised transport, mechanisation of labour, television viewing, obesity, and inactivity in adults and children," they said.
There was a "clear need" for government to address inactivity as a national health problem.
This should be done along with broader lifestyle changes including better diet, keeping a healthy weight, and not smoking.
People should have at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activity, or 60 minutes of vigorous exercise, a week, whether after work, during work, or in between.
The researchers noted that lack of safety, and of green areas and recreational facilities, interfered with participation in physical activities.
Government departments needed to co-operate to create safe and "walkable" communities, schools and neighbourhoods.
Other studies in the SAMJ supplement called for education on healthy food choices to counter the high obesity rate, and for people to eat more fruit and vegetables to combat a range of diseases.
- SAPA
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