Frequently, when I go to work in the ER, I see elderly patients who are deconditioned. That is, they simply have no physical reserves because they have been bed-bound in the hospital — or homebound — from chronic illness.

This affects their thinking as well as many other body systems. Any exertion makes them short of breath, and falls and injuries are common fare as their muscles and nervous systems just don’t know what to do from lack of use. In their eyes I see the longing for normalcy, the frustration that rehabilitation may take a very long time — or may never come at all.

While younger adults (with fewer medical problems) may not rise to the level of deconditioning, all too many are well on their way. Due to disinterest, depression or minor to moderate physical problems, they simply stop. They stop exercising, watching their diets, walking, moving, engaging, dating their spouses or even playing with their children. They sit, day in and day out, eyes glued to computers or television.

While some indeed have terrible medical problems, all too many have simply “taken to the chair” or “taken to the bed.” Maybe that’s what they thought they should do at a certain age. Maybe they think it’s too hard to exercise or they feel it hurts to do so. It could be, in part, because food became more interesting than fitness, and it’s just so easy to get lots of inexpensive calories in our modern society.

Whatever the source, it’s a terrible cycle. Inactivity leads to lack of fitness, which leads to obesity and, along the way, a growing list of associated injuries and illnesses (arthritis, stroke, diabetes, hypertension, heart disease), each of which worsens the cycle. Then it’s hospitalization, surgeries and medications along with their side effects of weakness and fatigue. And the spiral goes on and on until people become patients who eventually are fully deconditioned.

In the end, we have produced an anomaly in history. American society is so prosperous and successful that its citizens, young and old, suffer from their well-being. In ancient times, survival meant activity through work, farming, hunting and, sometimes, fighting. Food was a precious commodity, not a thing so abundant that common people were all but poisoned by it.

As believers, we are called to use everything at our disposal for the kingdom of God. And since we have bodies, I assume God meant for us to use those as well. I believe that when we choose inactivity, when we choose neglect of our health and abuse of our bodies, we dishonor our Creator and make ourselves a liability, not a help, to our brothers and sisters and to society at large.

It’s spring! Get outside, walk, move, do, cut back on food, and live a full life of health and activity. We all owe it to one another to be as well as we can so that we can live rich, joyful lives of service.