More than 50% Indians are physically inactive, less than 10% engage in recreational physical activity: Report

That sedentary lifestyle and less physical activity is leading to several health risks is not unknown. Now, a report by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) shows that physical inactivity is very common in India. Around 54.4 percent people were found inactive during a study by the government agency, reports The Times of India.

The data further shows that males are significantly more active than females. However, people spend more active minutes at work than in commuting and recreation domains. Fewer than 10 percent engage in recreational physical activity.

Physical inactivity is not just leading to a high disease burden and deaths, but it is also posing a major threat to productivity and contributing significantly to health expenditure.

One in five adults, and four out of five adolescents (11-17 years) globally, do not get enough physical activity.

This physical inactivity is costing USD 54 billion in direct healthcare, a latest report by the World Health Organisation (WHO) shows.

According to WHO, physical inactivity (lack of physical activity) has been identified as the fourth leading risk factor for global mortality (6 percent of deaths globally).

Moreover, physical inactivity is estimated to be the main cause for approximately 21–25 percent of breast and colon cancers, 27 percent of diabetes and approximately 30 percent of ischaemic heart disease burden.