—
A recent study published in the Lancet medical journal has shown that the UK has one of the highest levels of obesity anywhere in Western Europe with 67% of men and 57% of women either overweight or clinically obese. According to the Global Burden of Disease study, children are also not fairing much better with 26% of boys and 29% of girls being classed as overweight.Iceland and Malta top the study with 74% and 57.8% for men and women in Iceland and 73.6% and 60.9% for men and women in Malta.
Another study, also carried out for the Global Burden of Disease study, that looked into the prevalence of overweight and obesity during 1980 and 2013 discovered the proportion of adults with a body-mass index (BMI) of 25 kg/m^2 (and therefore being deemed overweight) has risen from 28.8% to 36.9% in men and 29.8% to 38.0% in women worldwide. The prevalence of overweight and obesity has also increased substantially amongst children during this time period.
James Hardy stated that whilst gym memberships are rising, there should be an emphasis to targeting those needing encouragement:
“The %’s are still rising even though gym memberships are up and training/diet knowledge seems to be improving…. in the exercising population. The challenge is getting the non-exercising population to prioritise health over convenience/habit. No point in preaching to the converted. 85% of the country don’t exercise, that’s who we need to talk to.”
The issue of obesity represents a problem that must be addressed to stem the wave of weight related illnesses amongst younger generations before it becomes one of the leading causes of death. In 2010, overweight and obesity was estimated to cause 3-4 million deaths, 3.9% of years of life lost and 3.8% of disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) worldwide and these astounding figures have given grounds to the need to improve the health of the world's population.
Personal trainers are at the forefront of fitness improvement in the UK, with personal programs, group classes and yoga all helping the fitness of the national improve. In recent years the personal fitness industry in the UK has expanded dramatically with 12.6% of the UK's population now registered as members of a private or publicly-owned health and fitness club, with 12.1% in the previous year, with total membership base also up 4.5% to 7.9 million over the past 12 months, showing a large increase in the growth of the personal training sector.
“Society is set up for people to gain fat; calorie dense, starchy, sugary food is instilled in our day to day lives for convenience and mercilessly marketed into our consciousness. Long hours at sedentary jobs and getting blind drunk as a national pastime don’t leave you any slack to soak up the bad food, so our waistlines are attacked from all angles. You need to be seriously on it to avoid this fate. Fat lifestyles are the norm, if your efforts aren’t ‘abnormal’ you’re a burgeoning statistic. You’re being led to your fate with a feed bag. Wake up”
As well as the increase in membership 167 new public and private fitness facilities were opened in the past 12 months, bringing the total for fitness facilities in the UK up to 6,019, up from 5900 last year. All of these statistics show a positive response to the somewhat dire obesity figures, hinting at a brighter, fitter future for the population of the UK.
Contact Info:
Name: James Hardy
Email: Send Email
Organization: Live Fit
Address: LiveFit Head Office 254-258 North End Road London Greater London SW6 1NJ
Phone: 020 7385 0688
Website: http://www.livefit.co.uk/
Release ID: 70698
Google
RSS