Over the last century daily life
for Homo Sapiens has become considerably easier, particularly for those
individuals living in western industrialized societies. A combination of
technological advances, including factory automation, farm machinery, labor
saving devices for the home, the automobile, telephones, television and
computers has allowed us to become steadily more productive.
At the same time these
innovations have made our species much more sedentary, obese and prone to a
variety of chronic degenerative diseases which put a considerable financial
burden on the health care system.Since the pioneering work of Jerry Morris in
the early1950's that observed an increased
risk of heart disease in sedentary London bus drivers, medical science has
built a wealth of knowledge about the importance of physical activity for
long-term health.
Promotion of healthy life-styles by the
Centers for Disease Control and others is ubiquitous and yet nothing seems to
be stopping the rise in sedentary behavior in western societies, indeed we
appear to be exporting it to developing nations. It has come to the point that
a recent study, from the National Institutes of Health, comparing self-reported
and accelerometer measured physical activity levels, concluded that probably
fewer than 5% of the adult US population get the equivalent of 30 minutes of
walking a day.
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