Sedentary lifestyles and physical inactivity: immobility rhymes with mortality

"Sitting is the new smoking": the indifference to physical inactivity in France is reminiscent of the indifference to smoking 40 years ago! And this is even truer for women.

And yet, a recent study by the American College of Cardiology reveals that women need to exercise less than men to feel the health benefits: for maximum benefit, men should do 5 hours of moderate activity a week, compared with just 2.5 hours for women!

Too bad: more than a third of French women (41%) don't follow the World Health Organization's (WHO) recommendations for physical activity, according to a Santé publique France study published in June 2024.

A sedentary lifestyle, but not inexorable.

The tertiarization of society mechanically entails a sedentarization of employees. A sedentary state is considered to exist after two hours spent in a seated position without getting up. And the Île-de-France region is the champion: almost 30% of women surveyed living in or near Paris say they spend more than 7 hours sitting down during the day (source: Santé Publique France).

Yet the solutions are simple:
- Get up for 5 to 10 minutes every two hours (have a glass of water, a coffee, stretch, get some fresh air...).
- Get into the habit of making phone calls or taking part in videoconferences while standing up.

At a time when modern lifestyles are encouraging inactivity: inordinate use of the car, time spent in front of screens, telecommuting... French women are neglecting physical activity, which accentuates the risk factors for numerous pathologies (see infographic).

But this trend is not confined to adults, and is already taking hold in adolescence. Over the past 40 years, young people aged between 9 and 16 have lost 25% of their cardiovascular capacity, and are running slower and for shorter periods. And it's even worse for girls. The latest OECD report shows that by the age of 15, only 6% of girls in France are physically active on a daily basis. On average, 13-18 year-olds spend almost 4h30 a day on weekdays in front of a screen, and almost 6 hours at weekends.

Recover the reflex to get moving

To get back into the swing of things, here are a few simple recommendations:
- Prefer public transport, and stay on your feet during journeys.
- Don't hesitate to get off a few stops before your destination.
- Use a bicycle whenever possible
- Always take the stairs instead of the elevator or escalator
- Reduce screen time and replace it with any activity that gets the body moving (walking, cycling, sport, gardening...)

The most important tip is to engage in moderate physical activity on a daily basis. Playing sport at the weekend won't make up for the sedentary nature of the week. It would never occur to anyone to brush their teeth for an hour on Saturday and not at all during the rest of the week! The same goes for physical activity.

The WHO's recommendations for physical activity are within everyone's reach: 150 minutes of moderate intensity or at least 75 minutes of sustained intensity per week... Which can be simplified to 30 minutes of moderate physical activity per day, or around 4,000 steps.

Prefer the stairs!

At all ages, for women and men alike, physical activity is an essential pillar in preserving cardiovascular health. Recent studies clearly show that women tend to neglect it, even though they can enjoy its health benefits even more than men.

In the same way that women tend to put off medical appointments to look after their families, they forget about physical activity. It's vital to start raising awareness of the importance of physical activity from an early age, so that young girls can rediscover the pleasure of being active, and retain it throughout their lives.

A simple tip to conclude. Climbing stairs every day particularly reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease: 20% for 5 or more flights a day, or around 50 steps, according to a study conducted at Tulane University (New Orleans) and published in the journal Atherosclerosis.

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