If our dog doesn’t get at least two walks a day he starts going a bit doolally. Like Winston, if I am kept cooped up inside all day I turn into a grumpy hound. Getting outside and giving our pins a bit of a stretch is something many of us (pets included) can’t stay sane without. And we need to move for one good reason: every animal on the planet is biologically designed to do it – even sloths.

Yet the latest our laziness has slumped to new lows and according to Public Health England we are in danger of making the sloth seem decidedly spritely. Last week we learnt the staggering news that nearly half of 40-60-year-olds don’t even manage a 10-minute brisk walk once per month. We are now 20% less active than we were in the 1960s and some are even saying that “the chair is the new cigarette”. It’s hard to disagree given six million Britons in this age bracket never need to even dash across town to get to the bank before it closes.

But trudge into the Public Health England data that was behind last week’s headlines and our exercising habits in Wiltshire aren’t quite as shameful as much of the rest of the country. Perhaps it is the beautiful countryside around us, because a little under two thirds (63%) of healthy middle-aged adults in our region muster up a 10-minute stroll each month, while nearly everyone (90%) does some walking nearly every day.

We could blame our inactivity on the TV, the internet, fear of crime, or any number of modern-day evils, but the changing face of work weighs particularly heavily on the bathroom scales – research shows the amount of physical labour at work has been sinking like a cold soufflé since the 1960s.

But try as they may, all the gyms, get-fit celebrities and government initiatives are unable to break the tractor beam pull of the settee. The experts often try to beat us with the scare stick: if you don’t manage 10 continuous minutes walking at a brisk pace every day, you are increasing your risk of early death by 15%. Stay on the sofa and you are speeding the onset of disability and serious health conditions, such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, dementia and some cancers. But unfortunately, the fear tactic is a hiding to nothing. Psychologically, we find it very difficult to imagine what we will be like in the future. Even though everyone knows we will get old, it just never seems real to us. Hence, 20-a-day smokers don’t quit, internet addicts don’t power down the computer, and one in five Britons have no savings for retirement.

If the least active 40-60-year-olds did 10 minutes of brisk walking every day then every year 2,500 deaths would be prevented and the country would be £3.1 billion better off. The powers-that-be know their sums and so are now trying to tempt us away from the TV by dangling a carrot in front of us. A new ‘Active 10’ smartphone app, launched last week, is a free walking tracker that gives reminders, tips and encouragement to help us walk briskly for 10 minutes. The government is even considering offering financial bribes. One pilot scheme gave London schoolgirls a £5 Topshop voucher if they walked to school eight times, and a cinema ticket for five journeys. Hopefully, they told them not to order popcorn with the toffee drizzled on it.

But even these most sugar-coated of carrots quickly lose their appeal. Like last year’s Pokémon Go smartphone game craze and the Zumba fitness fad of 2012, the novelty quickly wears off and we sink back into our old ways.

Forget the gimmicks, because I think the solution is to fall in love with moving. Science shows us that just 10 minutes of brisk walking leads to a happier mood, improved quality of life and better fitness. Or put another way: when you exercise regularly, you become a happier person who is nicer to be around. But if even that doesn’t persuade you then consider getting a dog. They never let you sit still for very long.