Experts are now of the view that physical inactivity should be a classified as a disease in its own right. The link between inactivity and poor health is so strong that Dr Richard Weiler and Dr Emmanuel Stamatakis have made this suggestion, writing for the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
The doctors feel that way in which physical inactivity is connected to morbidity and mortality, is reason enough to consider inactivity to be a disease, rather like obesity, which is also classified as a disease, the root cause of which is often lack of physical activity.
Dr Weiler of the Imperial College Healthcare made a valid point when he said that a lot of money is spent on treating the symptoms of physical inactivity, such as obesity, high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes etc; but not enough is being done to get at the root cause of all this.
He spoke about the fault lying with the way in which modern medicine is taught and the fact that wellness is not promoted enough by public health care systems.
The doctor suggested financial rewards for GPs who promoted exercise, since the money spent here would mean lots more money being saved in terms of obesity related treatments.
