CommemoratingWorld Health Day with Advice
While sitting at your desk for most of theday, sometimes skipping lunch to get through your inbox, do youoccasionally start to worry about the "spread?" Youknow the dreaded feeling that you are slowly getting outof shape? Well, the Health Services Department has a solution.
To commemorate World Health Day, PublicHealth and Physiotherapy staff members are offering free adviceon how to incorporate exercise into the workday. To demonstratethe practicality of the suggestions, a mock office will be setup in the main foyer of Cayman Islands Hospital on Monday, 8 April,from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
"If you have questions about whichphysical activities are right for you, and how active you shouldbe, stop by and see us," said Health Promotion Officer RaquelSolomon. "Today, more and more persons spend long hours atwork, making it difficult to find ways to squeeze in physicalactivity. We're going to help people understand how it can bedone."
World Health Day will be officially observedon Sunday, 7 April, under the slogan Move for Health. It is intendedto promote physical activity, which the World Health Organisation(WHO) defines as "all movements in everyday life, includingwork, recreation, exercise and sporting activities that rangein intensity from regularly taking the stairs, dancing and walking,to jogging, biking and practising sports."
The WHO estimates that lack of physicalactivity leads to more than 2 million deaths per year, said Director-GeneralGro Harlem Brundtland. "Combined with improper diet and tobaccouse, it causes more premature coronary heart disease and alsoincreases the risk of several cancers, diabetes, high blood pressure,blood lipid disorders, osteoporosis, depression and anxiety,"she outlined.
Dr. George A.O. Alleyne, director of thePan American Health Organisation, agreed with Dr. Brundtland'sassessment. "In the Caribbean, as well as Latin America andNorth America, nearly three-fourths of the population childrenand adults perform very little physical activity, and morethan a third are victims of sedentary lives," he acknowledged.
"This is the silent epidemic concealedbehind the prevalent chronic diseases previously mentioned, andit is also the new challenge of public health."
Dr. Alleyne also called for changes in theenvironment that will encourage physical activity, such as increasedsafety in cities, more recreational spaces, more respect for pedestriansand stronger health promotion activities in the schools and workplaces.
For more information about World HealthDay and how to improve your health, contact the Public HealthServices on 244-2632.