Our way of life can impact our health drastically. A more-sedentary lifestyle means that high calorie foods may not be the best items to consume. Now, researchers have discovered that technological advances may just be aiding the spread of obesity and type-2 diabetes. They've found that as more people in developing countries are able to own higher priced items such as TVs, computers and cars, the more overweight they become.
In order to see how increasing quality of life might impact health, the researchers analyzed data on more than 150,000 adults from 17 countries, ranging from high and middle income to low-income nations. In the end, the scientists discovered that owning all three devices--a TV, a computer and a car--was associated with a 31 percent decrease in physical activity, a 21 percent increase in sitting and a 9 cm increase in waist size compared with those who didn't own these devices.
That's not all, though. The researchers found that there seemed to be no association in high-income countries. This could be because the effect of owning these devices has already occurred. This is reflected by the higher rates of obesity and type-2 diabetes.
"With increasing uptake of modern-day conveniences--TVs, cars, computers--low and middle income countries could see the same obesity and diabetes rates as in high-income countries that are the result of too much sitting, less physical activity and increased consumption of calories," said Scott Lear, one of the researchers, in a news release.
The findings reveal how important it is to include exercise and healthy meals when you have a mostly sedentary lifestyle. If steps aren't taken, there could be dire societal health care consequences. So get up, get out there and cut down on that fast food.
The findings are published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
