freelance journalist, print journalist, online journalist, copywriter, content editor, freelance editor, health and lifestyle, blogger Making food: the most popular form of activity | Christine Morgan - Journalist
+44 (0)7931 342850 christine@christinemorgan.co.uk

I just had to share this with you because it’s so funny. Well it is if you have a sense of humour like mine. But beware, this could also make you weep with despair.

According to a study published in the October issue of the American Journal of Preventative Medicine, only five percent of Americans report having some form of vigorous exercise on any given day. And by vigorous they mean cardiovascular exercise, such as using a treadmill in the gym or outdoor running.

Hmm, I hear you say. That doesn’t sound good, especially with so many people being overweight and obese (and these days it’s not just the US, it’s most developed countries – including the UK).

But here’s the funny part. The type of ‘moderate’ activity reported by the highest number of people (25.7 percent) was preparing food and drink. Hello, is that an actual activity? Well I know some cooks work up a sweat with all that chopping and kneading, but come on, most people just stick a ready meal in the microwave, don’t they?

Is it any wonder we have an obesity epidemic in the West?

Other so-called moderate activities included lawn, garden and house plant care, which were reported by 10.6 percent of the people involved in the study. Well I accept that gardening can be fairly strenuous, especially if you’re doing lots of digging, but house plant care? Whoever works up a sweat watering their house plants, I wonder.

Well I thought it was hilarious. Scary, but hilarious.