Text written in Basque and translated automatically by Elia without any subsequent editing. SEE ORIGINAL

Policies in favour of physical exercise have had little impact on a global scale

Three studies that have analyzed the evolution of physical activity worldwide have come to this conclusion: although in the last 20 years more and more public projects have been launched to promote physical activity, they have not had great success in the population and the social and gender gaps continue to be evident.

The three papers have been published in Nature Medicine and Nature Health . According to them, one in three adults and one in eight young people do not follow the advice of the World Health Organization. As for the administrations, they often do not take into account all the departments that are crossed: mobility, education, urbanism. And the objectives that are established are often not measurable, so it is not known to what extent they are achieved.

“One in three adults and one in eight young people do not follow the advice of the World Health Organization.”

according to the study carried out in 63 countries, in economically wealthy countries, among men, it is common to exercise during leisure time. At the other extreme are women from economically poor countries. On the contrary, physical activity related to lifestyle (hard work, cycling) is more common in these countries.

Researchers suggest that policies to combat climate change and those that support physical exercise can be pushed together. For example, cycling or walking is beneficial in both. However, they warn that sport is not always beneficial for the climate and remember the carbon emissions generated by large sports events.

Overall, all three studies agree that under-exercising is a global and persistent public health problem. They point out that a systemic approach is needed to deal with it.