By Josephine Agbonkhese

In 2025 alone, the world will spend about three hundred billion US dollars fighting communicable diseases—otherwise known as lifestyle diseases.

A figure which, according to the World Health Organisation, WHO, would, by 2030, have become the annual economic cost of physical inactivity on the world’s finance. Unless curtailed by the one in three persons worldwide currently estimated to be sedentary in their lifestyle.

Described by the WHO as failure to accumulate at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activity or 75 minutes of vigorous physical activity or the combination of both intensities per week, physical inactivity is growingly becoming a major enemy of, not just man’s health, but his bank account—as he pays indirectly by financially servicing lifestyle diseases such as obesity, Type-2 diabetes and hypertension which tend to set in over time.

It was in a bid to avert these statistics that fitness professionals gathered, last weekend in Lagos, for the third edition of the ‘We Move Summit’, all clad in their various traditional attires, proudly reflecting their Nigerian heritage and commitment to national wellness.

Organised by the Institute of Registered Exercise Professionals, IREP, the summit, themed the ‘Role of Exercise in Lifestyle Diseases’, drew to the spotlight, the impact of lifestyle habits on health and finance, with a dire warning that mankind risked another pandemic if physical inactivity remained unaddressed.

”We, fitness professionals, are the ones who can save nations billions of dollars. For every one dollar you spend on fitness, you gain six dollars in healthcare services,” revealed ace fitness trainer, Joel Uzamere, CEO, IREP, in his address titled ‘Exercise Assessment for Lifestyle Diseases’ at the summit.

“We have HMOs everywhere. Why don’t we have gyms everywhere? Exercise isn’t just about fitness. It’s medicine. The American Sports College of Medicine calls it the most under-utilised anti-depressant. In the UK, active people report thirty percent higher life satisfaction. So, why is there still a gap between what science proves and what society does?
“We want to encourage society to keep moving because the human body is designed to move. When it doesn’t move, systems fail. It’s going to cost the world about three hundred billion US dollars to fight communicable disease in just 2025— diseases that you could have solved by just moving. Workplace wellness programmes alone can reduce absenteeism by 27 percent according to statistics.

“Fitness professionals are the final frontiers. Everywhere else in the world, health professionals are already working with fitness trainers to ensure health continuum but, sadly, that isn’t yet in Nigeria,” Uzamere fumed as he urged professional trainers in Nigeria to move towards pursuing policies and building collaborations aimed at integrating standard fitness training into schools and communities.
However, expressing satisfaction over the response of Nigerians to fitness in recent years, Uzamare decried its misappropriation, saying: “The gap we need to bridge is to help people understand that exercise must be prescriptive. You do not jump onto a treadmill unless you have consulted first with a health professional.”

Another speaker, Awodiya, CEO/
Founder/CEO Eurex Fitness Eunice Tolu AwosIya, while speaking on ‘Exercise as an Obesity Deterrent’ at the summit, cautioned that only a planned, purposeful, repetitive and intentional physical activity should be classed as exercise. Walking, for example, according to her, cannot be termed exercise unless it is planned, structured and intentional.

The event featured a panel discussion titled ‘How Inactivity Fuels Lifestyle Diseases in Young Adult’ moderated by popular fitness coach Ruby Agu aka Aunty Ruby. On the panel were Sandra Awogboro, Founder, Ladies Fit Fest; Dolapo Phillips, CEO, Alpha Fitness Studios; and Akin Mayowa, CEO, MayorFit. Others who spoke were prominent fitness expert, Ekemini Ekerette, CEO, Kemen Fitness; and wellness coach, Maje Ayida.

The highpoint of the summit was the graduation of a newly-trained set of young fitness professionals, as well as the conferment of awards on individuals driving change in the fitness scene in Nigeria.