While we aren't replacing our saved energy with a different activity, in the past 70 years, hard and manual labor, which required toil and sweat, has been replaced by desk jobs, leading to sedentary lifestyles.

Change in Work Profiles

Historic evidence suggests that for many thousands of years, human beings were more active and stronger than today. The early humans had increased movement and activity, like going for long and tiring hunts, walking long distances that took weeks, making the prehistoric humans fitter than the best athletes today.

Decrease in Human Strength

Technological breakthroughs have reduced our activity to a great extent ( vacuum cleaners, washer-dryers, self-cleaning ovens, and even cars).The rise of the internet gave us a whole lot of technology, curbing our need to move even more.

Technology as the Culprit

Exercise is a  movement of the body to enhance physical fitness. Most people know that exercise is important for the physical development of the self, yet a majority of them are skipping exercise often.

Exercise Defined

The way to change this sedentary epidemic:<ul><li>Exercise and be active all day, not just for an hour a day.</li><li>Rethink your working style.</li><li>Limit the number of sitting hours.</li><li>Make it a habit to eat right.</li></ul>

The Way Out

Sedentary lifestyle diseases like heart disease/strokes and diabetes are the leading cause of death in the world, according to the World Health Organization.

Sedentary Lifestyle Death Toll

This is the time of year when trainers are mined from under beds and gym kits are disinterred from the bottom drawer. Google searches relating to physical fitness peak in January. Many people even trawl the web to find out about "desk exercises" and "workouts on the go" in case they are too busy to use their new gym memberships.