Indians among laziest people in the world: Study

NEW DELHI: Drive or walk it? Given a choice most Indians are lazy enough to opt for a car no matter what the distance is. Well, now a 46-country study has shown that we are among the laziest countries in the world . India is ranked at 39, with people averaging just 4,297 steps a day.That’s among the findings of a study by Stanford University researchers using step-counters installed in most smartphones to track the walking activity of about 700,000 people in 46 countries around the world. The least lazy, according to the study published in the journal Nature , are the Chinese, particularly those in Hong Kong , where people averaged 6,880 steps a day.The worst nation was Indonesia, where people walked nearly half as much, averaging 3,513 steps a day. The worldwide average is 4,961 steps, with Americans walking an average 4,774 steps. The top half of the chart includes Hong Kong, China, Ukraine and Japan walking over 6,000 steps daily while the countries at the bottom of the rung include Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia who walk less than 3,900 steps.Data shows that Indian women walk even less than Indian men. While Indian women manage to walk barely 3,684 steps, men have registered 4,606 daily. The study found that for both males and females, a larger number of steps recorded is associated with lower obesity, but for females, the prevalence of obesity increases more rapidly as step volume decreases (232% obesity increase for females versus 67% increase for males; comparing lowest versus highest activity).Delhi-based dietician Ritika Samaddar suggests at least 10,000 steps a day to remain fit, "People feel that if they have walked for an hour in the morning, they have got their share of physical exercise done. But you need to be active throughout the day."So, are Indians likely to be more obese than Chinese? Stanford researchers say in countries with less obesity, people typically walked a similar amount every day. In nations with higher rates of obesity, there were larger gaps between those who walked a lot and those who walked very little.