Einleitung

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 80% of men and 73% of women worldwide can be considered as insufficiently physically active, defined as a regular activity level below 150 minutes per week at moderate intensity. Physical inactivity (PI) has undisputedly emerged as one of the most important global cardiovascular (CV) risk factors, being associated with a 20–30% increase in relative risk for premature all-cause mortality. PI is responsible for 3.2 million deaths annually worldwide and was accountable for 69.3 million lost disease-adjusted life-years (DALYs) in 2010,
which corresponds to 2.8% of the total volume of DALYs. Globally, PI is estimated to be responsible for 6% of the disease burden of coronary artery disease, 7% of type 2 diabetes mellitus and 10% of the disease burden from breast and colon cancer. Furthermore, PI also plays a key role in the development of overweight and obesity and their concomitant diseases.
However, there is an impressive body of evidence demonstrating that a sustained increase of physical activity is associated with a substantial reduction of the above-mentioned diseases and, furthermore, increases life expectancy and quality of life worldwide. The beneficial influence of regular physical activity on the incidence and mortality of many chronic diseases, including CV diseases, is well documented.