Time to stop being lazy

WE are supposed to be a machine built to run. Our foot’s arch is a high-tensile web of 26 bones, 33 joints, 12 rubbery tendons and 18 muscles. It stretches and flexes like an earthquake-resistant suspension bridge. It is the greatest weight-bearing design ever invented.

Perhaps it was meant for humans to outrun animals they were hunting long before bows and arrows were invented. The hunters and gatherers of yesteryears have long gone, but we still inherit the physical construct of a strong and fast runner.

But it is a natural invention that has gone to waste. We seldom use them. We don’t even utilise 10% of its potential. We use them just to walk short distances, not more than an average 2,000 steps for most humans today. We walk around the house or in the office, wishing at all times, if we can walk less.

Forget about targeting the 10,000-step marker a day. We are getting more lazy.

In today’s world, we have perfected the art of lazing around. As one researcher puts it, “we have taken our sinewy, durable, hunter-gatherer bodies and plunked them into an artificial world of perpetual leisure.”

It is a crisis bedevilling humanity. Technology is changing everything, especially our habits and lifestyles. Sedentary living is in.

Advancement in technology has made humans in the Internet age the laziest lot in the entire history of mankind.

According to a study in the United States, an average American today does about 30 minutes less physical activity a day than an American 200 years ago.

The conclusion was reached after studying among other things, the changing metabolic rates to measure declining levels of activity since the industrial revolution.

Various surveys pinpointed that 80% of Americans don’t get enough exercise.

The US has come out with the 2018 Physical Activity Committee Guidelines on how much exercise is needed. An adult is supposed to perform 150 to 300 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous exercise each week. About 80% of adult Americans can’t achieve that goal.

Overall physical activities among today’s humans have been severely reduced as the result of technological and social changes.

We all understand that physical activity is a major determinant of health. The less active we are the more prone we are to health-related problems.

Humans are not programmed to do as little as possible. Malaysia has the dubious distinction to be the fattest nation in South-East Asia and one of the fattest in Asia.

A study by the Health Ministry shows an increase in overweight and obesity in 2020, affecting more than half the adult population in Malaysia, compared to 2019.

An estimated 54.2% of the Malaysian adult population in 2020 is overweight or obese. That is an increase of four percentage points from the findings of the National Health and Morbidity Survey the year before.

Part of the problem is because of our obsession with food.

Ours is truly a food nation. We love to eat. Food plays an important part of Malaysian culture.

That reminds me of a book by Brian Wansink, Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think.

The book revolutionises the way we think about food. It provides an insight on how much, what and why we eat. There is such a thing as mindless eating, mind you! Food provides the sustenance for us to survive, but food kills too.

It is about time to stop being lazy. We are using technology to do our physical activity for us. We are spending too much time being part of the social media community or watching video streaming on our smart apparatuses.

There is a co-relation between inactivity and chronic health issues.

Physical activities help reduced risks of death from heart diseases, high-blood pressure and diabetes.

The Internet is redefining us today. There are 26 million active Internet users in the country. On average, as of the third quarter of 2020, a Malaysian spends 9.17 hours on the Internet, 3.01 hours on social media alone. A Malaysian user has an average of 9.7 social media accounts. Little wonder 86% of our people exercise less than 30 minutes a week.

Should we reflect on how best to embrace technology without sacrificing our health?

Johan Jaaffar is a journalist, former editor and for some years chairman of a media company, and is passionate about all things literature and the arts. And a diehard rugby fan. The views expressed here are entirely his own.