Half of Macedonian citizens do not do any sports, while only 8.3% of the population jogs, walks or does some kind of sports more than the minimum 150 minutes a week, recommended by the World Health Organization, Telegraf.mk reads.
The information was shared by the Public Health Institute on the occasion of May 10, the Move for Health World Day.
In Macedonia, men do better than women: meaning 42 percent of men do not take up any physical activity, against 57 percent of the female population, which is very high.
"It's a fact we don't to any physical activity which would help us improve our health. When the percentages are added up, we come to the data that the total of 91.6% of the citizens don't do any physical activity, or they do, but it's less than the recommended 150 minutes a week," says Dr. Igor Spirovski, head of the food monitoring department with the Public Health Institute.
Doctors advise that regular physical activities lower the risk of heart diseases, prevent the occurrence of high blood pressure, decrease the risk of developing diabetes, regulate the food digestion process, maintain the mental health, lower the stress and improve the quality of sleep.... In the opposite case, those who prefer to seat rather then to walk risk of suffering a series of chronic illnesses.
In fact, an active lifestyle extends the life expectancy, people who move more or do physical exercises live longer.
"Children aged between 5 and 17 should be active at least an hour a day. Persons older than 18 and younger than 60 should have physical activities at least for 150 minutes a week. Persons aged 60 should also move more in line with their abilities. A half-an-hour walk three times a week would be sufficient for them," Spirovski explained.
The results of the research conducted by the renowned Cambridge University that were published last year in London have shown that the lack of physical activities is worse than smoking. Laziness has made it up to the fourth place on the list of global death causes.
The team of scientists has analyzed 300,000 Europeans for 12 years, and they concluded that daily fast walking lowers the annual death rate with people of normal weight by a quarter. According to them, a 25-minute fast walk a day can grant us additional three to seven years of living.
