references

1. The University of Sydney: in 2013, physical inactivity cost INT $67.5B globally in healthcare expenditure and lost productivity

   1. https://sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2016/07/28/physical-inactivity-cost-the-world--67bn-in-2013-says-first-ever.html

   2. “Physical inactivity is recognised as a global pandemic that not only leads to diseases and early deaths, but imposes a major burden to the economy,” said lead author Dr Melody Ding, Senior Research Fellow from the University’s School of Public Health.

   3. “Globally, the economic burden of physical inactivity is projected to increase."

   4. Such inactivity is estimated to cause more than 5 million deaths a year - almost as many as smoking, which the World Health Organization (WHO) says kills 6 million a year.

2. People today take roughly a third of the number of steps their ancestors took two hundred years ago

   1. https://www.businessinsider.com/heres-how-much-the-average-american-walks-every-day-2015-7

3. 80% of jobs in America are desk-based, rather than physically demanding:

   1. https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/25/less-active-at-work-americans-have-packed-on-pounds/

4. Sedentary lifestyles increase all causes of mortality, double the risk of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and obesity, and increase the risks of colon cancer, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, lipid disorders, depression and anxiety. According to WHO, 60 to 85% of people in the world—from both developed and developing countries—lead sedentary lifestyles, making it one of the more serious yet insufficiently addressed public health problems of our time. It is estimated that nearly two-thirds of children are also insufficiently active, with serious implications for their future health.

   1. https://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/release23/en/