“According to the CDC1, only 23% of American adults over the age of 18 meet the Physical Activity Guidelines for both aerobic and muscle strengthening activity.”
I shared the above statistic the other day. Yesterday, our veterinary commented on the number of dogs that gained weight during the pandemic. Today, I saw a statistic that Childhood obesity rates (age 5-11) increased from 36.2% to 45.7% during the pandemic. Nevertheless, the “experts” seem to ignore the ever-growing health crisis of hypokinetic disease. All indications point to the central role of inactivity, diet, and obesity (preventable risk factors) in the incidence of COVID-19. Somehow, though, we can’t see it. It must, after all, be the fault of the variants and the vaccine-hesitant (not trying to make a case against vaccination, here—if anything, these statistics should point to the fact that an overwhelming number of Americans who should be vaccinated are refusing to be). Consider these statistics….
“Only 23% of American adults over the age of 18 meet the Physical Activity Guidelines for both aerobic and muscle strengthening activity.” Do we understand how pathetically low these Guidelines are? They are the minimal guidelines for health—not for optimal physical performance. These Guidelines are the level of physical activity that might keep you from dying in the hospital of COVID-19, but are not likely to dramatically affect your risk of symptomatic infection. These Guidelines are 150 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise and 2 days of strengthening exercise (i.e., achieving a minimum effective volume of resistance training—which I would argue is not really present in the Guidelines. Two days a week is, at best, a maintenance volume—a volume that will minimize atrophy and not necessarily promote “strengthening” of the skeletal muscle.) The Guidelines, however, are not being met by 23% of the adult population. That means that 77% of the adult population is not achieving the minimum levels of physical activity necessary for health. Factor in the number of people who are just meeting the minimal levels, and the number who are achieving optimal health shrink. We can also consider those who are doing extreme amounts of physical activity and recognize that this is not optimal either. There are also those who might be getting the optimal amount and type of exercise for good health but are adversely affecting their health by not eating healthy, not getting enough sleep, or by having unhealthy levels of stress (and those who are doing their best with health conditions that are beyond their control). When we look at the numbers, it is clear that very few Americans are “healthy.” It is also clear that these numbers are worsening. (Questioned our vet, “How could dogs be gaining weight when the owners are working from home.” I know our dogs were walked more than usual during the pandemic. Maybe we are feeding them more like we are overfeeding ourselves.)
We have to take our activity levels seriously. By no means am I suggesting that we train for marathons and bodybuilding compositions. Indeed, these put a strain on the immune system and other physiological systems—which is why what little eyebrow I have gets raised when I hear someone say that a “healthy” person got severely ill with COVID-19. There are very few truly healthy Americans, but we have the opportunity to address this and correct this. It simply takes the will to put in the effort—in our communities, in our homes, and in our personal circumstances.
We need the medical community to recognize the central role of inactivity, diet, and body mass (both over-fat and under-muscle) in the demands on our health care system (regardless of COVID-19 infections). We need local, state, and federal representatives (I hesitate to say “leadership” because we need to stop playing the inactive role that has led us to where we are. It dismisses our collective responsibility.) to act accordingly. We have a bigger health issue than a virus.
Be your best today; be better tomorrow.
Carpe momento!
1https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/exercise.htm