One of the studies concludes that one in three adults and eight in ten adolescents do not meet the physical activity guidelines recommended by the World Health Organization.
The promotion of physical exercise should be a “political priority,” both for its health benefits and its role in combating climate change, three studies argue — though they also point to significant shortcomings and obstacles.
The conclusions of three scientific papers, published in Nature group journals and released on Monday by the EFE news agency, question the absence of stronger and more coordinated public policies on physical exercise, whose lack is responsible for “millions of deaths annually.”
One of the studies concludes that one in three adults and eight in ten adolescents do not meet the WHO’s recommended activity guidelines — 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week for adults and 60 minutes daily for children.
All three papers converge on the need to implement more effective cross-sector policies to ensure physical activity contributes to public health and broader social goals.
In one paper, published in Nature Medicine, the authors analysed data from 68 countries and argue that physical activity strengthens immunity, reduces the risk of infectious diseases, improves symptoms of depression and is associated with better cancer treatment outcomes.
Social inequality is identified as a discriminatory factor in access to sport, with access to active leisure 40% higher in the most advantaged social group — wealthy men in high-income countries — than in the least advantaged — poor women in low-income countries. Conversely, physical activity driven by the economic necessity of physically demanding work is higher among disadvantaged populations.
Another paper, published in Nature Health, analyzed 661 official policy documents aimed at promoting physical exercise over the past 20 years across countries worldwide. The results show that most countries have drawn up and adopted appropriate measures, but there is little evidence of effective monitoring to verify whether they are being implemented in practice or whether they are working — 53 of the nations studied did not even include quantifiable targets to determine the impact of their policies.
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Achieving a more physically active population requires cross-sector collaboration, yet only 256 of the 661 official documents analysed included coordination across multiple government departments, which were typically the ministries of health and education.
“Policy development alone is insufficient; effective policies require clear leadership, budgets, timelines, targets and accountability across sectors,” said the lead author of this study, Andrea Ramírez, an epidemiologist at the University of Texas in Houston.
A further article published in Nature Health demonstrates how physical activity can contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation, as walking, cycling and using public transport instead of driving not only encourages people to move more and improves their health, but also helps reduce polluting emissions.
The researchers note that climate and health challenges are deeply interconnected, and argue that the physical activity and climate change agendas should be aligned through common goals, tools and metrics that reflect the priorities of those most affected.
Despite body culture trends and the existence of more policies to promote exercise, data show that physical activity levels have generally not improved over the past two decades, with the various papers pointing to the fact that the issue is not a “priority on the political agenda” as one of the main reasons.
