Doctors in many countries say that people do not do enough physical exercise. What are the causes of this trend? How can the situation be improved?

Many elderly

people

today, in spite of frequent recommendations from doctors, do not get adequate

exercise

. In my opinion,

this

is largely related to their upbringing and simple psychology, while the best solutions augment existing remedies. The most basic sources of

this

problem are historical and psychological. Many old

people

today grew up in a period when

exercise

was not ubiquitous. Gyms in schools and as private businesses are a more recent development so they have not become ingrained habits for past generations.

Moreover

, men may have experience playing a sport but female athletics were historically underfunded and even banned in many nations, which has an effect on elderly women

in particular

.

This

history intermingles with normal human psychology.

People

are naturally embarrassed to stand out or appear foolish in public. Feeling self-conscious is an initial barrier that prevents many elderly from taking up a new sport or going to the gym for the

first

time. The most efficacious solutions involve better accommodating the elderly. One way to do

this

would be to build more parks for

exercise

. In some East Asian countries

such

as Vietnam and South Korea, they have been building both small and large, rural and urban parks with basic

exercise

equipment for decades. They are easy to use, common and the elderly have become acclimated to them. Many more elderly would

exercise

if there was an expansion and replication of these successful policies. Another related fix would be to build more fitness centres.

This

may not have a huge impact at the moment, because gym members tend to be younger, but as a new generation of old

people

rises up, these centres will become more important and allow governments to take a proactive, rather than reactive, approach. In conclusion, there are both historic and fundamentally human reasons

for

Change preposition

apply

show examples

why old

people

do not

exercise

today. In my opinion, the solutions are not novel but would clearly lead to improved health for the elderly.