Exercise is important! Yes, we all know that. But what happens to our bodies? What are the consequences and symptoms of lack of exercise? These are 13 fatal things of too little physical activity.
Move, move, move - many people can't hear it anymore. But: Being and staying in motion is really important for our body.
The human body was never made for sitting and lying down. Our ancestors were on their feet for many hours every day - hunting and gathering.
Even though our bodies have changed, they are still designed for us to be on our feet. Lack of exercise can have consequences you wouldn't have guessed. From head to toe and even our psyche suffers when we move too little.
However, more and more people spend their daily lives sitting in the office. In the evening or in the morning, very many have little motivation and time for sports. But it doesn't have to be a marathon every day. Even a big walk every day can work wonders and compensate for the many sitting at least to some extent.
Today I would like to show you that too little exercise causes symptoms that you did not expect. What these are and what consequences lack of exercise has for the musculoskeletal system, you will now learn.
Table of contents
How does lack of exercise manifest itself?
Sitting for long periods of time causes our metabolism to shut down. This leads to obesity, swollen legs, varicose veins and circulatory problems. Lack of exercise is the reason for many diseases of civilization. With little activity, the whole body suffers. The probability of contracting a chronic and incurable disease also increases.
Typical civilization diseases caused by too little exercise are:
- Hypertension
- Diabetes
- Cardiovascular diseases
- Strokes
- Thrombosis
- Alzheimer
- Osteoporosis
- Herniated discs
- and allergies.
Sitting or lying down for hours increases the risk of musculoskeletal disorders. Too little physical activity also promotes obesity. This in turn increases the likelihood of developing heart disease, strokes, cancer and also respiratory diseases.
Did you know that in Europe 600,000 people die annually due to lack of exercise? Thus, more die from too little physical activity than from smoking. Every tenth death is directly or indirectly related to too little exercise.
In a nutshell: Our body needs exercise. Only in this way can it remain vital and healthy.
When do you have a lack of movement?
There are many different views on when we move too little. Experts and scientists speak of a lack of exercise when we don't challenge our body's muscles enough. Our bodies need 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of intensive exercise per week. This can compensate for the deficit that we build up when we sit down too much.
The Maximum steps per day by German office workers is, according to a survey, only 1500 steps daily! But for our body to function, according to studies, it needs every day about 10,000 steps.
You can easily monitor your daily steps with a pedometer. Almost all fitness wristbands have one integrated, and there are also countless apps for smartphones.
Consequences of lack of exercise are a huge problem in our society. Today, even children are affected by the symptoms of lack of exercise.
Overall, around 42 % of people in Germany suffer from a lack of exercise. And that has far-reaching consequences.
With this plan, even the unathletic can start running!
How to recognize lack of exercise symptoms?
It's easy to see what happens when you don't exercise. You can see whether you yourself are affected by too little physical activity by these points:
Restriction in movement
Bending over, tying your shoes and looking over your shoulder are difficult? These are typical symptoms of too little physical activity. We become and feel rusty and stiff.
Have a look here: these Exercises make you more flexible!
Fatigue
Those who are exhausted from work prefer to stay in bed or on the sofa. Sport seems too strenuous. However, exercise helps to regenerate energy reserves - even in the long term.
People who exercise every day don't get tired as quickly. So it's time to overcome your inner couch potato after work (or as soon as you wake up).
When you always have to yawn and have no drive, then this may be a consequence of too little physical activity!
Pain in muscles and joints
People who suffer from muscle and joint pain often avoid sports. While this is understandable, it usually leads to a vicious circle. Try to relieve the tension with light exercise if possible.
Swimming is often a good alternative. To find out which exercises and treatments are best for you, you should consult a doctor or physiotherapist if you have severe pain.
Bad mood
Our mood and psyche are prone to inactivity. Early signs of depression include constant sleepiness, restlessness, insomnia and a perceived lack of energy. Exercise can help with depressive moods.
But exercise alone cannot cure severe depressive moods, sadness or anxiety. It has a supportive effect and lifts the mood.
Shortness of breath
Walking up the stairs or playing with the kids - that causes you to get out of breath quickly? Yes, that's what happens when you don't exercise enough. Regular exercise improves your cardiovascular system and thus your breathing.
What happens to the body with too little exercise?
In addition to fatigue and obesity, the consequences of lack of exercise for the musculoskeletal system and the mind can be very far-reaching. The consequences range from postural defects such as a hunched back or hollow back to reduced mental performance.
You won't believe how many different effects too little exercise has on our bodies. To put it another way, it's pure insanity! Lack of exercise symptoms negatively affect our entire lives. But let's look at this in more detail.
1. muscle mass decreases with too little exercise
If you don't challenge your body regularly, it will set on Low flame. It begins to break down the hard-won muscle mass. You lose besides your muscles also the Condition.
All the muscles you don't use are reduced to a minimum.
Doesn't sound so bad at first, do you think? Our heart is also a muscle!
An untrained heart muscle is more prone to heart attacks. Without a workout, the stability of our joints is negatively affected. The risk of injury increases.
When we have hardly any muscles left, our sense of balance also becomes much worse. Tension occurs - but more on that in a moment.
This is what happens when you take a break from training!
2. tension in the neck and back.
Anyone who works in an office knows all too well the nasty tension and pain in the back and neck.
When we sit for many hours, we remain in the same position for a long time. And that's exactly what causes tension.
If you don't lace up your workout shoes regularly, you risk atrophying the muscles of your spine.
This results in incorrect posture. Most often you can see the hunchback. You can still live with that? Okay, but at the latest with the intervertebral discs the fun stops.
Too little exercise not infrequently leads to herniated discs. Yes, you heard right, you can also get a herniated disc from sitting too much and especially sitting incorrectly.
What helps? A trained back is the best prevention. But beware: abdominal muscles and back muscles always play together.
However, back pain is often triggered by psychological problems. The good thing about it: Both with physical as well as psychological stress, sport helps.
If you think you don't have time for exercise, even simple stretching exercises can help. Many of them you can use as office gymnastics at your workplace make
3. chronic diseases
All organs in our bodies need regular stress and exercise to stay fit and productive.
You increase the risk of getting chronic diseases in the future exactly when you feel like exercising again and curl up on the sofa.
By the way, this listlessness to go for a walk or otherwise pick yourself up is also a classic lack of exercise consequence.
4. digestion suffers
What happens when you don't exercise enough? Yes, it even affects the digestion.
You can eat as healthy as you want, if you don't exercise, your Digestion sooner or later strike. Because for our organs to function properly, they need movement.
Through sports and exercise, our Blood circulation boosted and oxygen are pumped into the body. This has a very positively on our digestive system off.
The organs need to be adequately loaded and need the traction and pressure that occurs when we move.
Did you know that sitting causes our organs to be compressed? The stomach and intestines cannot develop properly. Few people suspect lack of exercise as the cause.
5. headache as a symptom of too little exercise
There are countless causes for the throbbing in the head. Very often it can be traced back to Lack of exercise can be attributed to this. On the one hand, because too little exercise Causes neck tension and this pain can spread to the head.
On the other hand, because people who sit too much usually also don't get enough good air. Office and living room air is often anything but healthy.
Even short breaks for exercise provide our brains with fresh oxygen. The best place to do this is outdoors. Why don't you take a little walk in the fresh air during your lunch break? Sunshine and oxygen help us concentrate and put us in a good mood!
These natural remedies really help against headaches!
6. brittle bones - osteoporosis
Yes, you heard right! Too little exercise leads to Osteoporosisalso known as bone loss. In this disease, bone density decreases. This causes our bone substance to decrease. You become more prone to fractures - all over your body.
Osteoporosis used to be a major problem, especially among older people. For some years now, however, the disease has also been on the rise among young people.
The reason: It is a lack of movement symptom! Our bones are not challenged enough. The bone always builds up more substance where it gets a tensile load from the muscles.
But if we don't put a load on it, it just degrades and goes into energy-saving mode.
The best way to prevent bone loss is exercise. A calcium-rich diet and sufficient sunlight can also prevent this disease.
7. cardiovascular problems
Lack of physical activity puts too little strain on our heart. Because it is not stressed enough, the heart's Performance of our heart from.
Untrained hearts have a hard time climbing stairs. The risk of having a heart attack increases sharply. There is a very strong correlation between cardiovascular diseases and exercise. Our heart also needs to be constantly exercised.
This does not mean that you have to become a top athlete now, moderate exercise is perfectly enough. The most important thing is the Regularity!
8. high blood pressure
More and more people suffer from Hypertension. One of the most common causes is a disorder of the cardiovascular system.
People with high blood pressure are more likely to have heart attacks or strokes. Regular physical exercise lowers high blood pressure, but also the Nutrition plays a major role in blood pressure!
9. more infections and colds
Our body and immune system need exercise. If you're on your feet a lot and you exercise, you will Defense cells formed - the immune system is strengthened and hardened.
This is also the reason why people who run and walk even in winter fall ill much less often. And if they do, they are back on their feet more quickly.
10. type 2 diabetes as a result of too little exercise
Whereas in the past it was mainly old people who were affected, diabetes is now increasingly affecting young people as well. The cause of this disease of civilization is primarily a lack of exercise and Overweight.
Type 2 diabetes begins insidiously and is very often only detected late. A suitable diet and regular exercise prevent diabetes.
If you don't exercise enough, you don't burn calories. The excess calories are deposited in the form of body fat on the abdomen, which brings us to the next point.
11. you get fat from too little exercise
Lack of exercise leads to obesity. It is an increasing health risk in our society. Many try countless diets. But this rarely leads to success. Because overweight can only be combated through diet and exercise.
In a typical office job, we take a lot of Too many calories to us. Our body cannot cope with so much energy and accumulates fat deposits. Energy intake and energy demand simply do not match.
Sitting and lying down for long periods of time causes our metabolism to shut down. Besides being overweight, it also leads to swollen legs, varicose veins and circulatory problems.
It doesn't help: For a healthy metabolism our body needs regular Activity.
12. stress due to lack of exercise
Our body reacts to stressful situations with stress. It secretes stress hormones that put our body in Alert offset. This increases the power limit for a short time.
This was the only way our ancestors could survive. If a saber-toothed tiger suddenly stood in front of them, they had two options: Run or fight. No matter which they chose - if they survived, the body reduced the stress hormones again.
Today, unfortunately, we rarely succeed in doing so. Deadlines, sensory overload and constantly stressful situations provide for Permanent stress. And that makes us sick. Add to that a lack of exercise, and it's insanely exhausting for your body.
Exercise is perfect to counteract this. Exercise makes us more stress resistant and balances out stress. Here you come to the article "5 reasons why sports help against stress".
13. arthrosis
More and more young people are becoming acquainted with the disease osteoarthritis. This is wear and tear on the joints. However, it occurs more and more often because we move too little.
In the past, the disease was mainly found in people who over-exerted themselves physically.
The nutrition of the cartilage suffers due to too little physical activity. Metabolic products are not transported out of the joint. This increases the likelihood of developing osteoarthritis.
This is how much you need to move per day
How much exercise do I need to do? How much do I need to walk per day? There is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. Lack of exercise also depends on how much you move at work, how often you exercise in the morning and evening, and what you do in your free time.
Do you do your shopping on foot, by bike or by car? How do you get to work? There are countless questions and factors that you often wouldn't even think about.
The best way to track your movement is with a step counter. Either as an app on your phone or as a fitness wristband.
In any case, our body needs daily exercise. So give it either a sports session or a 30-minute walk. Every day.
For children and adolescents up to the age of 17, the following applies: at least 60 minutes of moderate to intensive exercise per day. The largest part should be endurance sports such as cycling, running or swimming. Muscles and bones should be strengthened at least 3 times a week. Ball games, jumping rope or climbing are well suited.
For 18- to 64-year-olds, the following applies: at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of intense exercise per week. Muscle-strengthening exercises should be performed at least 2 days per week.
And for those over 65, at least 150 minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of intense exercise per week. Exercise muscles at least two days a week. People whose movement is limited should tackle lack of movement consequences with a physiotherapist.
How can I prevent it in everyday life?
If you're mostly sitting or standing at work and have a full-time job, it's not always easy to get enough physical activity. But there are a few tricks you can use to incorporate physical activity into your daily routine.
That's how you get more exercise on the job:
- Use your commute to stay active: Walk or bike to work. If you have to take the subway, get off one stop early and take a short walk to work.
- Take a break for exercise at least once a day. For example, go for a walk during your lunch break.
- Take the stairs instead of the elevator.
- If possible, try to work while standing. On the one hand, there are desks that you can use while sitting and standing, on the other hand, you can also do meetings or phone calls, for example, while standing.
- Take regular breaks at work. Move around and do light Stretching exercises suitable for the office.
- Get a pedometer and try to walk 10,000 steps every day.
What are the causes of too little exercise?
In the past, people were often forced to walk because they had no alternative. This doesn't just refer to the infamous hunter-gatherers of the Stone Age. The generations of our parents and grandparents also moved more in their daily lives, for example, because of the physically demanding work in agriculture. People continued to walk because cars and public transportation were not yet so common and expensive.
The wealthier people are, the more exercise decreases in everyday life. This pattern can be observed all over the world. A 2018 study analyzed data from 1.9 million people. Researchers found that insufficient physical activity increases in high-income countries. 36 % of people do too little physical activity, compared to only 16 % in low-income countries.
More than half of all employees in Germany today hold jobs that are predominantly sedentary, according to the Institute of the German Economy. Only 30 % of jobs in the EU require light physical labor, and only one-eighth require heavy physical labor.
Our conclusion
Our body needs exercise, and much more than we give it! Go for regular walks, runs and long distances. Your body needs a mix of endurance and strength training to function at its best. Lack of exercise has consequences you don't want to know about.
Now it's time to put on your training shoes!
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