I subscribe to the Harvard School of Public Health newsletter
and recently read an article that gave some staggering
statistics regarding the cost of inactivity. The article stated
that “according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and
Prevention, inactivity was associated with more than 9 million
cases of cardiovascular disease in 2001, at an estimated direct
medical cost of nearly $24 billion. Another CDC analysis
suggests that because individuals who are physically active have
significantly lower annual direct medical costs than those who
are inactive, getting people to become more active could cut
yearly medical costs in the U.S. by more than $70 billion.” Take
that to the bank…or should I say Federal Reserve. The definition
of being sedentary or physically inactive is this: expending
less than 1.5 kcal/kg per day in leisure physical activities.
This is the equivalent of walking a little over two kilometers
or 1.3 miles, or approximately 3000 steps in one day. For most
people, that is a walk of 25 m