“I haven’t even been 40 for a month and we’re already going down this road,” I thought to myself.

The doctor went on to tell me that they are seeing a lot of patients with acid reflux these days.  As you may be aware, stress is a major cause of acid reflux and everybody is feeling some type of stress these days.  Stress combined with a more sedentary lifestyle brought on by the pandemic is a recipe for disaster.

Studies are beginning to show that Covid wasn’t the only great risk to our health in 2020. In the pursuit to contain Covid, I’m concerned that other elements of health are falling by the wayside.  There has been a striking increase in childhood obesity due to school and playground closures, loss of extracurricular activities, and let’s boredom/depression due to the loss of a normal life.

Across the board in the span of a year, there has been a 2% increase in obesity, which is really striking,” lead author Bria  Jenssen, MD, , told Medscape.

The study looked at a large pediatric primary care network and found the number of patients with obesity increased fro  13.7% to 15.4%.

While the obesity rate increased 1% for patients 13 to 17 years old, the rate increased 2.6% for patients aged   5 to 9 years. (Source Webmd)

Older adults who were the most at risk for Covid hunkered down and stayed indoors. Because of the loss of activity, studies have found that older adults were more at risk of falls due to a loss of mobility.

The National Poll on Healthy Aging found that between March 2020 and January 2021, 25% of people age 50 to 80 surveyed had at least one fall during the pandemic due to a loss of balance, a slip, or a trip, and 70% of them hurt themselves.

Even though the most common injuries were bruising or a cut, 40% needed some kind of care after a fall. And many either delayed or failed to seek out, medical care, largely due to the pandemic. (Source NextAvenue)

Another issue that will have severe consequence is all of the screenings and routine exams that were missed last year that may contribute to missed diagnoses.  There are estimates that nearly 10 million Cancer Screenings were missed due to the pandemic last year.

According to an article on WebMd.com, Nearly 10 million cancer screenings have been missed in the United States during the coronavirus pandemic, researchers report.

As a Fitness/Wellness professional, I am very concerned about the long-term health consequences of the pandemic.  It appears that obesity and  metabolic health is a major risk factor for Covid as well so I think it’s even more imperative that we begin to sound the alarm about the repercussions of the pandemic on our overall health.

Fall Push 2021: 30×5

One of my clients set a great goal for her Fall Push that I’m adopting and I want to encourage you to adopt it as well.

Engage in physical activity for 30 minutes, 5 days per week.  It doesn’t have to be with weights or on a cardio machine at the gym. Go for a walk, stretch, or do some bodyweight exercises.

One thing I’ve enjoyed doing is to split up my 30 minutes of physical activity.   I may do 20 minutes of Yoga in the mornings and a 20-minute walk in the afternoon.  The point is to keep moving.

Make sure to track your physical activity so that you can see just how much movement you are getting in.  Some of my clients like to use calendars to keep track of how many workouts they’re doing. I just use a notebook to track how many workouts I get in a month so I can see where I am for my yearly workout goal.  (I have a goal to do at least 200 workouts a year)

While we should be mindful and aware of Covid, we cannot let the rest of our health go down the drain.

30 minutes of physical movement x 5 days per week!!