Wake-up call: third of adults not doing enough physical activity [Video]

Nearly a third of all adults are not doing enough physical activity, posing a growing threat to health across the world, a major study said on Wednesday.

More than 31 percent of adults — 1.8 billion people — did not get the recommended amount of physical exercise in 2022, an increase of five percentage points from 2010, according to a study by the World Health Organization and other researchers.

“Physical inactivity is a silent threat to global health, contributing significantly to the burden of chronic diseases,” said Ruediger Krech, director of the WHO’s health promotion department.

“Unfortunately the world is not going in the right direction,” he told an online press conference.

To be healthy, the WHO recommends all adults spend at least 150 minutes every week doing moderate-intensity physical activity — which can include walking, cycling or even household chores — or at least 75 minutes of more vigorous …