"With a sedentary lifestyle and its harmful effects, we are witnessing the emergence of a new social condition."

The summer of 2024 will remain etched in our memories as a moment of collective grace. The exploits of our athletes at the Olympic Games, the popular enthusiasm, and the beauty of the ceremonies seemed to herald a profound change in our lifestyles. It was legitimate to hope that this sporting excitement would massively encourage the French to lace up their sneakers and get back into physical activity. The figures for the start of the 2024 school year have dispelled these illusions: sports licenses increased by only 5%, according to the National Institute of Youth and Popular Education (INJEP). A thrill, certainly, but derisory compared to the scale of a major health crisis that we are still struggling to measure.

Data from the French National Agency for Food, Environmental, and Occupational Health and Safety (ANSES) are unequivocal : 95% of the French adult population is at risk of deteriorating their health due to a lack of sufficient physical activity. Even though we have never had so much free time, physical activity rates have stagnated for several decades. This massive sedentary lifestyle is a determining factor in the onset of cardiovascular disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and mental disorders, according to the Injep.

In reality, we are witnessing the emergence of a new social condition. Yesterday, the brutalization of the body primarily affected factory workers; today, it affects all citizens. Our lifestyles exert unprecedented violence on our organisms, exhausting our bodies through immobility as they once did through physical exertion.

This new condition reproduces and amplifies traditional inequalities: adults with low levels of education and those under 45 are the most affected by a sedentary lifestyle, while those with higher education are more likely to maintain a level of activity that meets the recommendations. A sedentary lifestyle is becoming a class marker, revealing a divide between those who have the cultural and economic means to maintain their health and those who do not.

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