Photo: Joe Athialy / Flickr

You might think that laziness is a bad habit, or that it’s a part of a person’s character, but new research suggests that it may also be a disease. Unsurprisingly, laziness has been linked to obesity – which is also a disease – and it seems that it’s because of this that so few people get as much exercise as they need.

Laziness – the deeper cause of obesity

Laziness has been found to be the reason behind why people don’t exercise enough. Obesity is already classed as an illness by the World Health Organisation, but the study has pointed out that obesity is a result of the fact that people don’t do enough exercise – and that’s certainly linked to laziness, whether it’s a disease or not.

Call to help

The NHS already spends a significant amount of money on obesity, so the report suggests that spending be allocated instead to the root of the problem – laziness. One of the study’s authors, Dr Richard Weller, said that ‘we need to promote wellness as well as illness.’ The Change4Life campaign used by the government to promote healthy living has been criticised for costing too much, but the new evidence might add some support to arguments for its usefulness.

One in 20

According to the study, published in the British Journal of Medicine, only about one in twenty people are getting the recommended amount of exercise. Even if you aren’t overweight, you could be one of them, so think about getting healthier with some more physical activity, whether it’s a run, some time with some fitness equipment in the comfort of your own home, or a sport played with friends. Whatever suits you works – it’ll keep you disease-free as far as laziness and obesity are concerned.

Tags: disease, obesity