Parts of the world are opening back up again. People are getting vaccinated and others report feeling “pandemic fatigue” (Reicher & Drury, 2021) . They are tired of the new normal and are going back to the way things used to be.
At this point, we are all well versed with the term — pandemic. A sickness, or problem, that reaches many populations across the world. Or by the dictionary’s definition:
(of a disease) prevalent over a whole country or the world.
As of March 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic’s catastrophic numbers are winding down.
But there is a hidden pandemic that fits this definition and we overlook it everyday.
The Physical Inactivity Pandemic
What has plagued society in modern times?
Excessive sedentary behavior and not meeting the minimum physical activity recommendations.
When you add up any meta-analysis, survey, or poll from your local community, this unhealthy behavior meets any pandemic definition.
Lots of people are NOT moving.
As recent as 2012, physical inactivity was officially labeled a pandemic in an article published in The Lancet— a top medical journal in the world. Kohl and colleagues said:
”In view of the prevalence, global reach, and health effect of physical inactivity, the issue should be appropriately described as a pandemic, with far-reaching health, economic, environmental, and social consequences.”
With less than 30% of the global population meeting physical activity recommendations and conservatively costing the health care system more than $50 billion per year, it is safe to say that immobile bodies are a big deal (Hall, 2021).
How Long Will This Hidden Pandemic Last?
Kohl (2012) put a flag in the ground 9 years ago. During the lockdowns, sedentary time increased during social distancing and government restrictions as reported by those survey participants (Ammar, 2021).
What Do We Do?
As we know behavior takes time to change, it is yet unclear what the downstream effects are of keeping people in their homes with fewer opportunities for physical activity and exercise.
There is an opportunity to behavior change experts to identity and arrange meaningful consequences, outcomes, and rules to avoid devastating long-term risks associated with sedentary behavior.
To change society, culture, and reverse the physical inactivity pandemic, we must focus on individual behavior change first.
References
Ammar, A., Brach, M., Trabelsi, K., Chtourou, H., Boukhris, O., Masmoudi, L., Bouaziz, B., Bentlage, E., How, D., Ahmed, M., Müller, P., Müller, N., Aloui, A., Hammouda, O., Paineiras-Domingos, L. L., Braakman-Jansen, A., Wrede, C., Bastoni, S., Pernambuco, C. S., Mataruna, L., … Hoekelmann, A. (2020). Effects of COVID-19 Home Confinement on Eating Behaviour and Physical Activity: Results of the ECLB-COVID19 International Online Survey. Nutrients, 12(6), 1583. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12061583
Hall, G., Laddu, D. R., Phillips, S. A., Lavie, C. J., & Arena, R. (2021). A tale of two pandemics: How will COVID-19 and global trends in physical inactivity and sedentary behavior affect one another?. Progress in cardiovascular diseases, 64, 108–110. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pcad.2020.04.005
Kohl, H. W., 3rd, Craig, C. L., Lambert, E. V., Inoue, S., Alkandari, J. R., Leetongin, G., Kahlmeier, S., & Lancet Physical Activity Series Working Group (2012). The pandemic of physical inactivity: global action for public health. Lancet (London, England), 380(9838), 294–305. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(12)60898-8
Reicher, S., & Drury, J. (2021). Pandemic fatigue? How adherence to covid-19 regulations has been misrepresented and why it matters. bmj, 372.
