Flabby Gets Hefty

It's now official: Being lazy and out of shape is a syndrome

It isn't news that lack of exercise and a poor diet contribute to illness and early death. But now, the problem has a name -- sedentary death syndrome, according to this wire story in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The story says that Frank W. Booth, who coined the term and its short form, SeDS, hopes to use it to make the public and the federal government pay more attention to the problem and spend more money to get people to be more active.

"We knew that there were approximately 250,000 people in the United States each year dying of inactivity-related diseases," but the phrase "inactivity-related disease" lacks pizazz, Booth says. Without a catchy name, the condition wasn't getting the attention it deserves, he adds.

Booth says he wants to stave off budget cuts planned for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's physical activity and nutrition program. He also wants the National Institutes of Health to create programs that would focus on SeDS research.

To learn more about SeDS, go to Booth's site. And for more about getting into shape, try the National Institutes of Health.

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