Lazy lifestyles ‘killing people’

MELBOURNE - Queensland authorities have said that it’s high time that people realize their lazy lifestyles are killing them.

The Health of Queenslanders 2010 biennial report showed escalating rates of obesity, diabetes and poor sun-smart behavior contributing to disease, death and disability.

The state’s chief health officer Jeannette Young said Queensland was gripped by a deadly epidemic of overweight and obesity that could be substantially addressed if people took responsibility for their own lives.

The report found one in three adults was overweight, one in five was obese and a quarter of children were too fat.

The numbers have doubled in the past decade. Diabetes cases are projected to double between 2003 and 2033, with 60 new cases of type

Only eight per cent of adults ate the recommended amount of fruit and vegetables and less than 10 per cent of Queenslanders practiced proper sun protection, despite the Sunshine State having the highest rates of skin cancer in the country.

If current trends continue, about 65 per cent of the adult population will be overweight or obese by 2020, the report noted.

It shows high body mass is now the leading cause of premature death and disability, overtaking tobacco in 2007.

Young said while Queenslanders were showing some improvements, their lifestyles were having a very serious impact on their health.

“If more of us would do a little bit of exercise every day, eat better, stop smoking, cut down on alcohol and be sun safe - all quite readily achievable steps - this dire challenge to our health would become noticeably less menacing for us as individuals and as a community,” News.com.au quoted her as saying.

She said simple steps could bring big results.

“We have to get back to a healthy weight, for example, by getting physically active for just 30 minutes a day, for the sake of our lives and the future of our community, the health system and the economy,” Young informed.

The report said obese people lived an average of two to four years less than healthy people and the severely obese around eight to 10 years less. (ANI)