Why a Sedentary World is Getting it all Wrong
By Peter Walker
Published by Simon & Schuster on 21st January, £16.99 hbk
“This book is pretty life-changing – encouraging, optimistic, rich with information. It got me off the sofa”.
Jeremy Vine
- A compelling and well researched chronicle of this very modern and largely unexplored catastrophe – the story of vanishing everyday movement
- Why regular physical movement is so fundamental to human wellbeing
- The story of the top experts trying to turn it around
- An empowering individual template for change
We are bombarded with images of fitness and sport, everything from the sculpted torsos of reality TV shows to stories about cycle races and ultra-marathons. But at the same time, four in ten British adults, and 80% of children, are so sedentary they don’t meet even the minimum recommended levels for movement. What’s going on?
The answer is simple: activity became exercise. What for centuries was universal and everyday has become the fetishised pursuit of a minority, whether the superhuman feats of elite athletes, or a chore slotted into busy schedules. Most people know physical activity is good for us. And yet 1.5 billion people around the world are so inactive they are at greater risk of everything from heart disease to diabetes, cancer, arthritis and depression, even dementia. Sedentary living now kills more people than obesity. Scientists call activity ‘The Miracle Pill’ – if you could turn incidental daily movement into a drug, it would be the most valuable pill in the world.
How did we get here? Daily, constant activity was an integral part of humanity for millennia, but in just a few decades movement was virtually designed out of people’s lives.
Peter Walker chronicles this very modern and largely unexplored catastrophe, and the story of dozens of experts trying to turn it around. Walker also offers readers an empowering individual template for change – as well as, for some, a wake-up call that their lifestyle might not be quite as healthy as they believe.
About the Author:
Peter Walker is a political correspondent with the Guardian, and a commentator and frequent broadcaster on issues including politics, active living and health. He has written a previous book about the many benefits of everyday cycling, Bike Nation: How Cycling Can Save the World, which is how he became fascinated by the problem of inactive lifestyles. As a journalist he has reported from countries including North Korea, China and Iraq, and is now based in parliament. @peterwalker99
Suggested Feature Ideas:
- Even in the Covid era, there’s a public health crisis which is being ignored
- How event a little movement makes a big difference
- Your children should probably move more – how it’s not your fault
- Tech and movement – Peter Walker used himself as a guinea pig, festooning his body with various gadgets and gauges to show how his working life (now back behind a desk) was impacting his body and what he could do to change things.
- How to Age well – the importance of movement as you age
- Five Ways to have a more healthy home office
- Why has movement been designed out of most people’s lives in a matter of a few decades?
- What makes a movement-friendly city?
- Peter Walker’s personal story – Peter first became fascinated by the amazing effects of everyday activity when, as a badly asthmatic early 20-something, he gave up a secure but sedentary desk job to become a cycle courier, transforming his life and health in the process.
For review copies, interviews or written features please contact Sarah Bennie PR on sarah@sarahbennie.com