SSA Blog: A life lesson from lockdown

England is enduring a second national lockdown in the fight against Covid-19. It follows similar action in France, Germany and Belgium. Unlike the first English lockdown, this latest intervention has been proposed to last only a month.

The wider health implications of lockdown are becoming increasingly understood. The Chief Medical officer Professor Chris Whitty, said when questioned about the impact of lockdown 2.0, “there are no good solutions. All the solutions are bad”. Countries and regions across Europe have approached lockdowns with different levels of severity. While gyms have been asked to close in England, it has been striking that the health authorities have repeatedly pushed the importance of exercise and continued to champion its benefits, allowing people to leave their homes to maintain some level of activity.

That sentence sounds terrible, “allowing people to leave their homes”, but in a number of countries across Europe, lockdowns have prohibited people going outside at all, leaving exercise options extremely restricted.

Exercise is important at all ages. In children, it helps develop physical literacy, embeds movement patterns, develops healthy cardiovascular responses and encourages lifelong associations between activity and fun.  As we enter and progress through adulthood, exercise helps develop and maintain strength, build bone density and function. However, it is as we begin to age that the value of exercise to maintain health becomes increasingly important.

As people age, they tend to transition from sufficient to compromised physical function (NHS Digital. Health Survey of England 2018). Decreases in physical function have a detrimental impact on quality of life and increase the risk of mortality (Dugravot, et al 2020). The issue at hand is that lockdown can inhibit people’s natural activity and can increase sedentary behaviour, which has been shown to have significantly severe health consequences.

To give this some context, the European Journal of Sport Science called together a number of experts to discuss the issue of restricting exercise and activity as a consequence of lockdown. Some of the research findings are stark. Sedentary behaviour negatively affects the muscular, cardiovascular, metabolic, endocrine and nervous systems. In older adults often these deleterious effects are exacerbated compared to younger groups and cannot be fully recovered.

To highlight just how serious inactivity can be, Professor Bruno Grassi, of the Department of Medicine at the University of Udine examined a number of research papers from across the inactivity literature. He developed a theoretical model based on the various findings that shows in adults over the age of 60, four weeks of inactivity could lead to a 24% increased risk of mortality over the next 14 years.

If you have elderly parents, friends, family or are in this age bracket yourself, how do you combat the issues of inactivity? The simple answer is remain as active as possible.

Here in the UK, Sport Science Agency is delighted to be working with a group of leading scientists who are at the forefront of the science of ageing. Active Ageing Research (AAR) was established by Dr Afriditi Stathi of the University of Birmingham. The group, which combines researchers from various institutions, is now producing ground-breaking research to support local, regional and national policy aimed at making a significant difference to the health of UK adults. 

The increasing interest in health and activity that has accompanied the Covid-19 pandemic represents a unique opportunity for a number of health and activity brands. Research by Adams et al, in 2019 showed that to avoid major decreases in cardiovascular health older adults should aim for a minimum of 4500 – 6000 steps per day. The older generation is increasingly tech-savvy meaning fitness and tracking devices have a huge role to play in keeping them active. Fitbit, Strava, Polar, Garmin all have the potential to develop this huge market space with a shift in product messaging and simple to use functionality of products.

The major sports goods manufacturers also have the potential to tap into this ever-increasing demographic. The focus within the sports market has remained the young since its beginnings. To buy a pair of sports shoes on the high street is often an uncomfortable experience for the more mature customer. However, the accelerated shift to online shopping among older generations can open up new doors for sports brands. Commercially, the new active ageing audience is often relatively affluent and from a brand perspective is gaining increasing social and societal importance.  

In the UK a 2018 study by Heron et al, estimated that prolonged sedentary behaviour cost the NHS £700,000,000 between 2016 and 2017. It also found that if this behaviour was eliminated 48,024 deaths could have been avoided in 2016.     

The brand power in tackling some of these statistics is incredible. It strikes at a personal and national level. Partnering with groups like AAR to help develop credible and effective messaging and programmes that prolong quality of life and life expectancy seems obvious.  

The importance of exercise has once again been brought to the fore by the Covid-19 pandemic and the latest lockdown. Encouraging and supporting your loved ones to remain active is one of the few tangible differences the public has felt it has had control over as other areas of normal life have been necessarily curtailed.

With developing news of the first vaccine on the horizon and the possibility of life returning to something close to normal over the coming months, the opportunity for brands to help drive the life lesson around activity and health for all ages, but particularly among the older generation is unprecedented. 

Sport Science Agency uses its insight and expertise to tell performance stories and unlocks their value for brands, broadcasters and rights holders. If you want to know more about what we can do for you, drop us a note via info@sportscienceagency.com and we can arrange to go for a healthy vitamin packed drink.