“Brits All Puffed Out”
That’s the title of the press release put out by the Benenden Health Care Society, about its study on the fitness level of “the average Brit.” It’s not good news:
A study released today by Benenden Healthcare Society reveals that the average Brit is so unhealthy they are left gasping for breath after running for a bus.
…The study found eight in ten have been left gasping for air after trying to catch a bus to work with the typical Brit walking up just 20 steps before needing to stop to gulp in air – and they can only manage to run 88 metres before coming to an abrupt halt. Three in ten feel achy and breathless after lifting shopping in and out of the car or to the house.
More than half (54 per cent) would always choose the lazy option of jumping in a lift or onto an escalator rather than face trudging up a set of steps – and a feeble seven in ten would get the car out of the garage to drive one mile or LESS, which would take just ten minutes to walk.
The sorry state of the nation’s lack of fitness also emerged from the stats – with one in five trying to avoid any forms of exercise. Only a doctor’s warning (48 per cent) or the inability to fit into clothing (43 per cent) would force Brits to overhaul their lifestyle or eating habits – and shockingly six in ten would only be sparked into action if they had a heart attack.
Scary… especially the part about viewing a heart attack as a prerequisite for being “sparked into action.”
I’d like to think that we Americans aren’t quite this out-of-shape, but I’m not so sure of that. After all, even some Americans who’ve had heart attacks can’t be “sparked into action.”
April 10, 2011
Most Americans I come in contact with seem to be in just as bad shape as the Brits. It seems if they have to use the stairs it’s a tragedy. Even at the Arnold this year the escalators were packed and the stairs were empty.
People going back to McDonalds soon after a heart attack, unbelievable. Don’t they realize what their doing? I guess a better question would be, don’t they care?
April 10, 2011
Yes, I remember the Arnold – there’s that wide central staircase flanked by the two escalators. Given the crowds, we found it was faster to take the stairs vs. the escalator, but very few people did… and that’s at a sports/fitness festival, too!
Yeah, I was pretty shocked about the fast food, too… although some people are pretty fatalistic about these things. I once tutored a guy (as part of an adult literacy outreach program back in Sacramento) who was a Type I diabetic. He took his insulin faithfully, but would not adhere to the diet… even after losing his leg to the disease! He basically shrugged it off: he knew he was shortening his life, but insisted he’d rather live as he pleased and die early, rather than live with dietary constraints.
Go figure…
April 11, 2011
That is completly ridiculous to think if given a choice you would choose loss of mobility or early death over changing how you eat. What is in the heads of some people?
Oh yeah, same place at the Arnold. Still almost no one on the stairs!!!
April 11, 2011
In Keith’s case, he had a pretty negative self-image. I imagine he was dyslexic – he was actually a few years older than I was at the time, but had never learned to read. So, between being diabetic, poor, and the likelihood that he grew up thinking of himself as a “dummy,” I guess he didn’t really see himself having much of a future.
April 12, 2011
That opens my eyes a little. I just looked at this from my situation, not thinking others don’t have the same life as I do. Seeing it in another lite might cause me to see their decision making process a little clearer.
I guess thats something I should consider more often.
April 13, 2011
Well, I understood his POV, too… although Keith was fundamentally a bright guy, he’d internalized a sense of futility about certain things in his life – including learning to read, unfortunately. He’d work during our sessions, but not outside them, so his progress was slow… and eventually ground to a halt after his second hospitalization.