No, it's not the latest form of marijuana: marijuana doesn't kill people.
"It" is "physical inactivity".
From The Lancet, a respectable medical journal, a study has been published indicating that at least a THIRD of the world's population is sedentary and not getting enough physical activity to prevent serious illness and diseases.:
“Roughly three of every 10 individuals aged 15 years or older — about 1.5 billion people — do not reach present physical activity recommendations,” they said in a report that described the problem as a “pandemic.”
The article described physical INACTIVITY
as failing to do 30 minutes of moderate physical activity five times a week, 20 minutes of vigorous activity three times a week, or a combination of the two.
It went on to compare physical inactivity to smoking or obesity, as far as a single condition that can cause the rise of serious illness and health matters.
A second study, comparing physical activity levels with population statistics on diseases like diabetes, heart problems and cancer, said lack of exercise claimed more than 5.3 million of the 57 million deaths worldwide in 2008.
***
Lack of exercise causes an estimated six percent of coronary heart disease cases, seven percent of type 2 diabetes (the most common form) and 10 percent of breast and colon cancers, it said.
I sort of expect a report like this to be laughed off in America, given this country's tilt towards sedentary lifestyles with terrible diets, alcohol use and tobacco smoking. True, tobacco smoking is down, but it's still everywhere I look.
Yours truly has long been fighting inactivity, weight gain, and health problems by exercising. I used to hike and camp about every other weekend....In the past 4 years I have redoubled my efforts to run, both on the street and with a treadmill; I now have a soloflex machine and do lifting and resistance work 3-4 times a week; I also work out 3-4 times a week on a heavy bag, punching and kicking and I do a few tabata drills with the heavy bag each week.
I very seldom consume alcohol and when I do (it's not Dos Equis!) it's very little. I don't smoke cigarettes. I haven't set foot in a McD's since probably 2002(?) or longer and avoid fast food like the plague.
Back in the day, I was that guy in high school that you didn't want on your sports team: I was 'the weakling". That guy who couldn't run a city block. Who wasn't any good at sports. Scrawny.
Now, one current goal is to have a '6 pack' (of ab muscles) by September 1 2012 (my 52nd birthday). It's well underway.
If I can do this, I am telling you almost anybody can.