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Dr Sharmel­la Roopc­hand Mar­tin

En­gag­ing in reg­u­lar phys­i­cal ac­tiv­i­ty helps to re­duce the risk of de­vel­op­ing sev­er­al dis­eases, in­clud­ing heart prob­lems, lung prob­lems, di­a­betes, and can­cer. But what do we mean by phys­i­cal ac­tiv­i­ty?

The World Health Or­gan­i­sa­tion (WHO) de­fines phys­i­cal ac­tiv­i­ty as any bod­i­ly move­ment pro­duced by skele­tal mus­cles that re­sults in en­er­gy ex­pen­di­ture. We can en­gage in phys­i­cal ac­tiv­i­ty in dif­fer­ent ways: through sport and ac­tive recre­ation, ac­tive meth­ods of trans­porta­tion, work, house­hold ac­tiv­i­ties, and oth­er leisure ac­tiv­i­ties.