<i>Lack of exercise kills 5m a year</i>

A third of the world's adults are physically inactive, and the couch potato lifestyle kills about five million people every year, experts said in the medical journal The Lancet yesterday.
The report described the problem as a "pandemic", and said about 1.5 billion people do not reach present physical activity recommendations, which is 30 minutes of moderate physical activity five times a week, 20 minutes of vigorous activity three times a week, or a combination of the two.
A second study, comparing physical activity levels with statistics on diseases like diabetes, heart problems and cancer, said lack of exercise claimed more than 5.3 million of the 57 million deaths worldwide in 2008.
It said inactivity was a risk factor comparable to smoking or obesity.