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South Koreans face a growing risk of obesity as routine physical activity slumps amid the COVID-19 pandemic, prompting public health authorities to strongly urge people to take regular walks. Their recommendation is at least 150 minutes a week of brisk walking that’s still slow enough to hold a conversation, or 75 minutes a week of walking at a pace too fast for conversation.

On Oct. 25, the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) and Korea Health Promotion Institute (KHPI) shared the recommendations as part of their “walking guidelines for Koreans.” Regular walking reduces the risk of death and obesity and is effective at lowering the risk of disease, including eight forms of cancer, heart disease, senility, and diabetes. Another advantage is that it can be practiced anywhere and at any time while still observing social distancing guidelines.

According to the findings of a KHPI survey on “health investment perceptions” conducted with 1,031 South Korean adults this year, 32.9% of respondents said they were “unable to engage in sufficient physical activity due to COVID-19,” while 42.1% of them named “weight gain” as a lifestyle change since the start of the pandemic. The numbers suggest the pandemic is one more negative factor added onto a recent situation where the obesity rate among South Korean adults had already risen from 30.9% to 34.6% between 2014 and 2018, while the rate of physical activity had fallen from 58.3% to 47.6% over the same period.

The guidelines call for at least 150 minutes of fast walking or 75 minutes of very fast walking per week for adults. When walking at different speeds, two minutes of fast walking can be considered equivalent to one minute of very fast walking. Proper posture is as important as the volume of exercise, as it relieves tension in the shoulders and neck and prevents pain in the lower back and pelvis. The recommended guidelines for proper posture include directing the gaze 10 to 15 meters directly ahead, breathing naturally through the nose and out of the mouth, bringing the jaw slightly in toward the chest and angling the upper body five degrees forward, keeping the body straight with the shoulders and chest spread, allowing the arms to swing naturally with the elbow gently bent in an L-shape or V-shape, walking with the arms in parallel rather than pointing inward, and walking in such a way that the knees seem to gently brush together.

For the sake of COVID-19 prevention, the guidelines advise wearing a mask and maintaining a distance of two meters from others. In cases of difficulty breathing, people are advised to move to a setting with no one else around and temporarily remove their mask to catch their breath.

By Lee Yu-jin, staff reporter

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