ISLAMABAD: The results of a recent study indicate that those who lead lazy lifestyles face the same risk of death as smokers and the obese.
According to the study published in the British medical journal The Lancet, ironically ahead of the 2012 London Olympics, physical inactivity in 2008 led to the death of nearly 5.3 million people across the world, that is one in every 10deaths, Press TV Reported.
This comes while smoking is responsible for about 5 million deaths throughout the world every year.
"Physical inactivity has a large impact on the health of the world. In fact, its impact is comparable to that of cigarette smoking," said Dr. I-Min Lee, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and lead author of the study.
The study also found that lack of exercise ups the risk of serious diseases including type 2 diabetes, colon cancer, breast cancer, and coronary heart disease.
Researchers suggested that doing at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activity, such as quickly walking, cycling or gardening for 30 minutes each week help adults to stay healthy.
Meanwhile, the Lancet research showed that people in richer countries do the least amount of exercise.