The People’s Movement, Sheffield’s physical activity campaign is highlighting new research from the British Heart Foundation that suggests that the underlying lifestyle causes of heart disease are not being effectively tackled or taken seriously, because of the effectiveness of heart drugs.

The research states that whilst there has been a 7% drop in heart related fatalities in 2004, over 105 thousand people still died of heart related disease in 2004 and the number of prescriptions for drugs related to combating heart disease is 17 times the level 10 years ago, and has doubled since 2001.

“The message from the statistics that we have is that we have become pretty good at managing the disease when we know it’s there,” said Peter Weissberg, BHF Medical Director. “The problem is that we have done nothing yet to prevent the disease occurring in the first place.”

Leading an unhealthy lifestyle, including smoking, a poor diet or lack of physical activity, is the key cause of heart disease. The People’s Movement is urging people from Sheffield to buck the trend and to take part in more physical activity in a bid to make Sheffield the most physically active city in the country – and as a result to reduce the incidences of heart disease and other heart related illness.

Paul Billington of the People’s Movement said: “We’re not asking people to suddenly start training to run a marathon – small lifestyle changes that can be incorporated into people’s daily lives are all that are needed to boost physical activity levels and reduce the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD), strokes and type 2 diabetes, as well as reducing the risk of some forms of cancer, muscular problems, and poor mental health.

“Simple things that anyone can slot into a busy lifestyle, such as taking the stairs instead of the lift, or getting off the bus a few stops early can all contribute towards the recommended physical activity levels of 30 minutes per day, on five or more days per week.

“It’s so easy to do in Sheffield, one of the greatest cities in the world in which to be physically active – with some world class facilities and the Peak District on the doorstep. The People’s Movement website www.thepeoplesmovement.co.uk is a great resource for people to find out more about taking part in more physical activity in Sheffield.”

In the UK only a third of men and a quarter of women take the recommended level of exercise – at least 30 minutes, five days a week. As a result of this the UK has the fifth most obese population in Europe. In Sheffield only 35% of people are active enough to avoid health risks, half the city’s population is overweight and 1 in 6 adults are obese.

Declining physical activity is a cause of rising heart disease. Since the mid-1970s the average number of miles per person travelled on foot each year has dropped by around a quarter and by bike by around a third.