World Health Organization Targets at Risk as Climate Change Impacts Exercise Levels

Climate change is significantly impacting human lives. For instance, humans are becoming less active because of the heat, which makes physical activity difficult. This is according to a study in The Lancet.

The study claims that higher temperatures due to climate change could cause millions of people worldwide to become physically inactive by 2050.

According to the study, this could result in 700,000 early deaths annually, as well as a $3.68 billion productivity loss. The study was published in Lancet Global Health, with the researchers from Latin America, including the Catholic University of Argentina.

According to the study, rising temperatures could undermine the World Health Organization's (WHO) target of reducing physical inactivity by 15 percent worldwide by 2030.

It is estimated that physical inactivity could increase the death rate in India. In the coming years, i.e., 2050, the death rate in India due to physical inactivity could be as high as 10.62 deaths per 100,000 people.

Climate change is causing Earth's temperature to rise, and this rising heat can affect a person's ability to remain physically active.

A recently published study found that hot and humid conditions during the hottest hours of the year in some parts of the world limit the safest physical activities for both young and old people to sitting and sleeping.

Researchers studied data from 156 countries between 2000 and 2022 to analyze temperature increases. Based on this, they estimated the impact rising temperatures could have on global physical activity by 2050.

The WHO recommends that people aged 18 to 64 engage in 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise per week. But physical inactivity is becoming a global health problem.

One in three adults is unable to meet the WHO's weekly exercise standards.