Brits are some of the laziest in the world, according to a new study © RexLazy Britons are putting their life at risk by not doing enough exercise, according to a new study.
It’s recommended that we do 30 minutes of moderate activity (such as brisk walking) five days a week or 20 minutes of vigorous activity at least three days a week.
Two thirds (63.3 per cent) of adults in the UK are not doing this, making us the third laziest country in Europe after Malta (71.9 per cent) and Serbia (68.3 per cent).
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Even in the US, where 30 per cent of the population is obese, only 40.5 per cent of people are as inactive – a figure much lower than ours.
The inactivity level in the UK is double the global average, and the eighth highest in the world.
"Although the technical revolution has been of great benefit to many populations throughout the world, it has come at a major cost in terms of the contribution of physical inactivity to the worldwide epidemic of non-communicable diseases,” said Study leader Dr Pedro Hallal, from the Federal University of Pelotas in Brazil.
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"Societal trends are leading to less, not more, activity than previously, and with few exceptions, health professionals have been unable to mobilise governments and populations to take physical inactivity seriously as a public health issue."
And in another study also released today, researchers have warned that this inactive lifestyle is as dangerous to us as smoking.
A lack of exercise is causing as many deaths as smoking across the world, says a report published in the Lancet to coincide with the Olympics.
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The report estimates that a lack of physical activity is causing 5.3 million deaths a year.
This is about one in 10 deaths from diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and breast and colon cancer.
"You can't be an Olympian but you can do enough physical activity to be healthy,” Dr I-Min Lee of Harvard Medical School in Boston, who worked on the study, told Sky News.
"I do not mean for you to go out and run a marathon. If you can fit in 15-30 minutes of moderate activity a day - commuting, walking the dog, playing with grandkids, doing more vigorous housework... all these things will count.”
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Lee blamed our poor weather and sports infrastructure for the low levels of exercise seen in the UK, but said that people must change their lifestyles sooner rather than later.