No Time to Exercise?

Interesting article I read the other day from CBC News. Now this study was completed on Canadians, but I am sure the findings can relate to many other countries as well. I will take a few snippets from the article, but you can also read the full thing here.

The main focus this article takes is the fact that people feel that they simply do not have time to exercise or make healthy food options. It says;

Nearly half of respondents in the online survey of 2,160 Canadian adults conducted in October used time as an excuse for being unhealthy:

• 44% of respondents said they had no time for regular physical activity.
• 41% said healthy meals take too long to prepare.
• More than half (51%) said fast food outlets don't have enough healthy choices.
• And almost a third (31%) said the time they would like to spend being active they instead spend commuting.

 What I find to be most disconcerting about this study however, is the fact that people seem to know what they need to eat and do with their lifestyles, but the simply choose not to for other reasons. I have personally seen this in the past with family members and others I know who will make time out of their day to go to work, get a tune-up for their car, play the latest video game, catch their favorite tv show, etc. but don't seem to find any time for exercise. Is is truly because they do not have time, or simply because they do not want to exercise? More and more I realize that it is the latter, especially with this stat from the same article:

The foundation says that Canadians who believe there isn't enough time to live healthy are wrong. While acknowledging the time crunch in people's lives, a foundation news release notes that Statistics Canada has said 29 per cent of Canadians over 20 spend two hours a day or more watching television, and 15 per cent spend at least 1.5 hours a day of their leisure time on computers.

Dr. Beth Abramson (from the article) who is a cardiologist and a spokesperson for the Canadian Heart and Stroke foundation states in the article that heart disease and stroke can be decreased by 40% if people make lifestyle changes.

I have personally read many studies lately that has shown that as little as 20 minutes of intense physical activity a day can drastically improve the quality and length of life in many individuals. Combine that with healthier food options and you can make drastic changes in the way you act, feel and live. Why not turn off the tv/computer/distraction 20 minutes earlier each night, get up that much earlier and get a workout in?

-Tyler Robbins

B.Sc. PTS