The Empower League strives for creating a world where all people integrate physical activity as a daily habit! Scientific Excursion- Part 1

”No matter how many sidewalks we build, no matter how many parks we construct, no matter how much we urge people to get involved with Physical Activity, they simply won’t do it unless they have the ability, confidence, and desire to be physically active. That’s where physical literacy comes in.”, U.S. Surgeon General Murthy, June 2015.?

Physical Activity is key to improving global health. However, this generation is the least active in history, which results in a high economic burden due to reduced human performance and enormous efforts for health care measures. Whereas globalization and digitalization are causing an intense global change, the global physical activity degree stagnates at an alarming level. On a global basis one in four adults is insufficiently active. It is even worse regarding adolescents, since 80% of teenagers between eleven and 17 years do not meet the minimum requirements of PA. Additionally, the number of obese children is as high as never before and expected to increase further in the coming years!

The Empower League strives for creating a world where all people integrate physical activity (PA) as a daily habit. This would enable people to have a greater self-esteem, achieve greater job performance and live happier and healthier lives, which would ultimately result in stronger economies. A high level of accessible, available and affordable PA would minimize barriers to engage in activity and increase the level of self-efficacy in the realm of PA of especially deprived people. Thus, it would encourage them to shift from sedentary lifestyles to more flourishing lives. Furthermore, active children are better positioned in life as they have both physical and psychological advantages and the potential to literally move the world forward!

Since a long time, PA has been an essential part of many aspects of people’s lives. Already back in ancient Greece, people were aware of the importance of PA for their health. The determinants of PA were defined in the 1990’s, when interventions to integrate activity in the everyday life, were explored. This resulted in the emergence of a subdiscipline of exercise science and epidemiology: Physical activity and public health. The following section briefly reviews what is known about the association between PA and the prevention of diseases:

PA means any “bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that results in expenditure of energy.” As a subcategory of PA, physical fitness means the repetitive and structured body movement “in order to improve or maintain physical fitness.”. The human body is made for frequent physical stimulation, otherwise its systems, such as muscles, cannot work optimally.

According to the World Health Organization, the United Nations’ specialized agency for health, for adults between 18 and 64 years PA means “recreational or leisure-time PA” and active transportation, such as walking or cycling, household chores or any sports “in the context of daily, family or community activities”. Throughout a week, adults should do 150 minutes of moderate-intensity PA, or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic PA.?In addition, muscle training should be done two or more days a week. Children and youth between five and 17 years should do 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous-intensity PA daily.

The measurement of PA is complex, as it is a multidimensional behavior. It is required to evaluate and define current or shifting levels of PA in various populations and to understand trends in participation over time. By a range of methods, such as accelerometers, self- report, motion sensors, direct observation or the doubly labelled water method, the PA can be assessed. Though, measuring PA yet ends up in substantial errors in measurement, as there is no perfect method to assess it. However, emerging technologies are achieving greater precision and scope of measurement efforts, which will enable precise investigations of PA and a better understanding of PA behaviors.

The comparison of the significance of inactivity for global mortality with other risk factors outlines the high impact of physical inactivity. According to a study, people who engage seven hours per week in activity have a 30-40% lower risk of dying early, than those who life sedentary lifestyles with less than 30 minutes of PA per week. According to a study by the WHO in 2009, PA is the 4th leading risk factor for global mortality. The role of PA and exercise in chronic prevention and other diseases is of high importance. The enormous effects of inactivity on a human being’s health is also shown by the Statista Research Department, which investigated the number of new cancer cases in Germany caused by low PA after localization in 2018. Assuming a 10-year latency period between exposure and cancer incidence, 9932 new lung cancer cases only in Germany in 2018 could be attributed to low PA (i.e. less than three hours of moderate to intensive exercise per week). Furthermore, 6056 colorectal cancer cases resulted out of sedentary behavior.

A person’s well-being and mental health is also dependent on the level of PA beside many other environmental factors.?The brain’s hippocampus is sensitive to the benefits of PA and influences health conditions positively by reducing psychological stress. However, it is not clear if PA enhances an improved well-being or vice versa, as people with better psychological resources tend to do more PA in their daily life. Since mental health issues mainly develop in early stages of people’s lives, it is important to tackle those in the childhood in order to achieve sustainable benefits. Physical activity increases self-esteem, regardless of duration or intensity of exercise. Especially for people who originally have a low self-esteem, PA may have enormous effects. It has also been proved that PA enables older people to positively socially engage and by this increase their quality of life. Not only self-esteem, but also reduced anxiety and stress can be achieved by fun activity in leisure time, which is accessible for almost everyone!?

So what are we waiting for? Let's empower each other!

Get in touch with me for deeper information about the impact of physical activity on our health or take part in one of our workshops for more specific knowledge about the importance of PA in children's lifes!

Sources

President's Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition (2016): Developing Physical Literacy in Community Settings. In: Elevate Health, No. 3, p.1-12.?

Kohl, Harold W./Murray, Tinker D. (2012): Foundations of Physical Activity and Public Health. Champaign: Human Kinetics.?

WHO (2017): www.who.int. Online: https://www.who.int/end-childhood- obesity/news/new-estimate-child-adolescent-obesity/en/.

Kohl, Harold W./Cook, Heather D (2013): Educating the Student Body: Taking Physical Activity and Physical Education to School. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.?

WHO (2015): www.who.int. Online: https://apps.who.int/gho/data/view.main.2482ADO?lang=en.

WHO (2017): www.who.int. Online: https://www.who.int/end-childhood- obesity/news/new-estimate-child-adolescent-obesity/en/.

WHO (2010): www.who.int. Online: https://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/publications/9789241599979/en/.

Taylor, Natalie (2014): Challenges in Measuring Physical Activity in the Context of Mental Health. In: Clow, Angela/Edmunds, Sarah / Physical Activity and Mental Health. Champaign: Uman Kinetics, p.41- 61.?

Graham, Dan J./Hipp, James Aaron/Marshall, Simon/Kerr, Jacqueline (2014): Emerging Technologies to Promote and Evaluate Physical Activity. In: Frontiers Research Topics, May 2014, No. 2, p.1-140.?

ISCA (2015): www.inactivity-time-bomb.nowwemove.com. Online: https://inactivity- time-bomb.nowwemove.com/download- report/The%20Economic%20Costs%20of%20Physical%20Inactivity%20in%20Euro pe%20(June%202015).pdf.