Physical Activity as a Natural Cure for Non-Communicable Diseases

Book excerpt: The modern way of life is, to a large extent, connected with a number of problems that occur in the field of public health, and non-communicable diseases are one of them. It is well-know that non-communicable diseases are chronic diseases that tend to be of long duration and are the result of a combination of genetic, physiological, environmental and behavioral factors. The main types of non-communicable diseases are cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes, while the main risk factors are modifiable behavioral risk factors (such as tobacco use, physical inactivity, unhealthy diet and the harmful use of alcohol) and metabolic risk factors (such as raised blood pressure, overweight/obesity, hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia). According to WHO data, non-communicable diseases kill more than 40 million people each year, which is equivalent to 71% of all deaths globally. It is also true that more than 15 million people die each year from non-communicable diseases between the ages of 30 and 69 years. According to the same source, other cardiovascular diseases account for most non-communicable deaths annually (about 17.9 million people), but deaths caused by cancers (about 9.3 million), respiratory diseases (about 4.1 million), and diabetes (about 1.5 million) are not far away. This indicates the need for further focus on this very important social issue in the 21st century, also to be address as part of the United Nations 2030 agenda. Although ancient physicians, including those from China and Ancient Greece, believed in the value of physical activity for health, a diametrically opposite view has prevailed instead by the twentieth century. Since the first rigorous, epidemiologic studies investigating physical inactivity and chronic disease risk has been conducted in the last century, a large body of evidence has clearly documented the many health benefits of physical activity; however, a large proportion of the world’s population remains physically inactive. For this reason, this Research Topic aims to continue developing knowledge of the effects of physical (in)activity on major non-communicable diseases, and a better understanding of genetic, physiological, environmental and behavioral factors which are convincingly related.