Reducing the Cost of Inactivity

NZ Network of REPs Registered Exercise Facilities and Professionals in Best Position to Support Reducing the Cost of Inactivity

Auckland Council, Waikato Regional Council and the Wellington Regional Strategy Committee (representing the councils in the Wellington region) recently commissioned a study to examine the full costs of physical inactivity in their regions.

The study’s findings were released with the bad news that in 2010, inactivity cost New Zealand approximately $1.3 billion, or 0.7% of total GDP.

The Chair of the Wellington Regional Strategy Committee has come out in support of councils playing a role in helping increase physical activity. Local government does play an important role in creating an environment and the infrastructure to support initiatives that support increasing activity for all New Zealanders.

However, we must not minimise the role that the fitness and exercise community, through the many well established Registered Exercise Facilities, and Exercise Professionals can play in encouraging and supporting a sustainable increase in activity. Registered Facilities and Professionals are already set up to provide a solution to inactivity with a range of services and products that provide safe and effective exercise advice and support.

The cost of inactivity is ultimately subsidised by us all, so by accessing Registered Exercise Facilities and Professionals, the cost of getting New Zealanders active is spread, allowing local government to channel their resources into other services.

The statistics are overwhelming, but there is a solution.

Registered Exercise Professionals can prescribe appropriate and achievable exercises to get people started, regardless of their current physical state. Overcoming inactivity is not simply a matter of instructing someone to move; it is about providing the support and resources to maintain activity and exercise over the long term.

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