Copyright Newsweek
With 31 percent of adults and 80 percent of adolescents not meeting recommended levels of physical activity, researchers have unveiled a disturbing glimpse of what the long-term impacts on our health and appearance could look like. Meet Sam, a "medical research-backed" projection of the average inactive person in 2050, intended to highlight the dangers of sedentary lifestyles. Sam has digital eye strain and redness from too much screen time, a dull complexion, sunken facial muscles and signs of premature aging, varicose veins and swelling in the legs and feet and “tech neck” from looking down too much and permanent poor posture. He may have once thought ordering all his food from his phone and taking all meetings from home was more convenient, but this coupled with years of doomscrolling and hardly ever being active has caught up with him. In adults, physical activity helps to prevent and manage health problems like cardiovascular diseases, cancer and diabetes and reduces symptoms of depression and anxiety—while also enhancing brain health and overall wellbeing—according to the World Health Organization. In children and adolescents, physical activity promotes bone health; encourages healthy growth and the development of muscle; and improves motor and cognitive development. To cook up Sam as a warning sign of what could happen without these benefits, his creators at the health app WeWard told Newsweek that they used a combination of proprietary data around average daily walking habits across 30 countries. They then conducted research into the major effects that both sedentary lifestyles and excessive screen time have on physical appearance and overall health—and projected that into an AI visual. The World Health Organization has set a global target of reducing the levels of physical inactivity in adults and adolescents by 10 percent by 2025 and 15 percent by 2030, relative to the 2010 baseline. If levels are not reduced, the global cost to public health care systems between 2020 and 2030 could be about $300 billion (approximately $27 billion per year), it has been estimated. It should be noted that a balanced lifestyle can still incorporate modern-day living with staying active. The responsibility is also on governments and initiatives to help make this accessible and achievable. "There's so much that can be done on the policy side to aid increased physical activity in communities," WeWard CEO Yves Benchimol told Newsweek. "That could include building more pedestrian-friendly infrastructure, prioritizing parks and green spaces, incentivizing walking programs/clubs, supporting digital tools that push for positive habit formation over mindless doom-scrolling and overall greater education on the benefits of walking," he added. "Movement really is medicine, and yet it's incredibly under-discussed."
