4 Reasons Why People Are Inactive

Hello everyone, usually I like to discuss my life with crohn’s disease and fitness, or how a healthier, more active lifestyle can aid those with IBD and IBS, but this time I want to talk less specific, and more to the general population. What am I talking about? I am talking about the ever defeating war our society seems to be having with inactivity.

On average, the Canadian (as I am a Canadian) government guidelines (via CSEP: Canadian Society of Exercise Physiology) suggests individuals who are adults (aka over 18) obtain 150 minutes of exercise per week. PER WEEK. NOT DAY. This is astoundingly low, right? Actually, at most, 15% of the Canadian population follows this (I can link individuals to studies if they want to see my sources), but this number roughly fluctuates between a high end of 20 and a low end of 10%, province to province, and seems to be getting worse, not better every couple (2) years. This is scary. Why are individuals so inactive? Are we lazy, not motivated individuals? Is there a fear of walking? GASP! In actuality, it appears, from what I can see with clients, friends and family, that it actually is true, we are lazy, we are scared, and we aren’t motivated to be active. But there has to be an underlying reason behind this. And I am going to jump in and tell you what I think are 5 reasons why!

Reason #1 and 2: Work is too demanding to be active.

In a society where we work longer days, commute longer, and sleep less, it can be true, work can be too demanding. But in my opinion, this is hardly EVER the entire story. People choose to be less active, and choose to allow their work to be more demanding. Everyone has access to bathroom breaks, smoke breaks, lunch and other 10 to 15 breaks in their day. What do we choose to do? Scroll our phones, eat a (potentially unhealthy) meal, and simply put remain still. Now, I’m not attacking anyone, that is not my aim, but lets be clear, inactivity is not okay. To combat this lifestyle choice, without even changing anything, I believe you can scroll your phone as you go for a walk at the end of the work day, or take a 10 minute walk over lunch. This literally requires not change in lifestyle beyond moving. You can still see your Instagram and Facebook friends, but now, instead of sitting, you are moving.

At the same token, for those who work longer than 8, 9 or even 10 hour days, you may not even want to think about being active at the end. And to me, this is the largest fallacy of them all. This is when you should be active! Finish your day, and instead of going home to the TV, go do something active, with a friend or spouse. Such as yoga, a walk, or hell, my favorite, pump some iron at the gym if that’s your thing. Not only does being active make you less tired, but your health improves. Who would have thought, right? It is so simple. Just give it a try.

Reason #3: They don’t care to be active.

This to me is selfish. If you have friends, family, children, grandchildren, then you have an extended network of individuals who care about you. By being still, you are shortening your life trajectory and therefore, can die prematurely, resulting in your loved ones loving you for less time. Don’t be this person. Quite frankly, there is bound to be something you enjoy doing to be active, take advantage of it and run with it. If you like to skate, go skating, if you like to hike, go hiking. It doesn’t have to be calories burned and muscles gained all the time. Being active is far more healthy for the psyche than caring about every little calorie burned on a treadmill anyways.

Reason #4: “I don’t have time”.

This in itself is just a blatant lie. It is coincidentally related to Reasons #1 and #2, but by extension is it’s own. There are 24 hours in a day, you sleep for 8, work for at most 12, and lets say commute for 1 hour, that does not add up to 24 hours gone, there is still on average 3 to 5 hours left (depending on work time length). So to me, I see it as an individual trying to validate their own health ways by saying they do not have time (Again, it seems harsh, but I am all about tough love, I don’t want to sugar coat it). I understand you may be tired, but trust me, improving your diet will make you less tired and more active. I have those days where I don’t want to workout (hell as I write this, I’ve just worked for 5 hours, went to school for 6 and commuted for 2, but I’m still going for a leg day at 845 pm). It is when you choose to be active, when you don’t want to, that you grow as a person. Speaking objectively, I can attest to my girlfriend, Carly’s growth. She hates going to the gym after she has had an extraordinarily long day of work, school and more work, but she goes anyways. Yo know what she says to me afterwards? Without fail, every time, “I’m glad we went, I feel much better. I might be tired, but I feel productive and better”. So do it, try it, be active for you this time.

As I conclude, I want to take this time to set out and say, that I recognize, sometimes “life happens”, and you can’t always workout or be active. But on the whole, this is not the case. People generally choose to do something else. Ironically, as I noted in the beginning that physical activity rates are declining, this is not surprise (I would hope). But, there is actually an inverse, increasing relationship with screen time. AKA television, laptops, and cell phone use. So, yes I may sound harsh, and yes I may be somewhat ruthless with my analysis, but let me ask you this, am I wrong? Or if you ask yourself, “am I active”, what justification would you have?

As I end, I want to call everyone who read this to action. Go for a walk after reading this. Tell me you don’t feel better. The fresh air, the endorphin's flowing, the rush of blood throughout the body. It feels great. You can’t tell me I’m wrong here.

As always, stay strong ladies and gents!

SMART Fitness,

David