Almost 50 per cent of adults in India engaged in insufficient levels of physical activity in 2022, according to a study published in The Lancet Global Health journal. Far more women in India (57 per cent) were found to be insufficiently physically active, compared to men (42 per cent), in line with trends across the South Asian region, the study found.
The average disparity in physical activity levels between women and men in the region was reported to be 14 percent higher among women. Additionally, the South Asian region ranked second highest globally for adults not meeting recommended physical activity levels, following the high-income Asia Pacific region, according to a research team that included World Health Organization (WHO) experts.
Globally, researchers discovered that approximately 31.3% of adults did not meet the recommended levels of physical activity, which entails either not engaging in at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity per week.
This was up by 5% from 26.4% of the adults worldwide insufficiently engaging in physical activity in 2010, they found, and if the 2010-2022 trends continued, the authors said that the global target of improving physical activity engagement by 15% would not be met.
In India, researchers discovered that just over 22% of adults were not getting enough physical activity in 2000. By 2010, this figure rose to nearly 34%. If present trends persist, they predict that by 2030, 60% of adults could be insufficiently active.
For the study, the researchers analysed data of physical activity reported by adults (aged at least 18 years) in population-based surveys to estimate the number of adults performing insufficient physical activity for 197 countries and territories from 2000 to 2022.
The team also found that around the world, older adults, both men and women, aged 60 years and above, were increasingly engaging in insufficient physical activity.
Physical inactivity increases the likelihood of developing non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. The growing prevalence of sedentary lifestyles and declining levels of physical activity are exacerbating the incidence of these diseases, placing greater strain on global healthcare systems, as noted by the WHO.
A 2023 Indian Council of Medical Research-India Diabetes (ICMR-INDIAB) study, published in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology journal, estimated that 101 million people in India were diabetic in 2021, and about 315 million had hypertension the same year.
Further, 254 million were estimated to have obesity and 185 million estimated to have high levels of LDL or 'bad' cholesterol, according to the study.
(with PTI inputs)
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