We are in the last month of the year, and with the advent of New Year with its new hopes and dreams, our task remains the same to encourage you to be healthy and healthier. So, we thought to discuss with you the WHO (World Health’s Organization) plan – Be Healthy by being more physically active. After all who better than WHO to talk about health!
Let’s look at a few key facts brought to attention by WHO, that may motivate you enough to ensure you take yourself up on the new resolution of exercising more:
- Insufficient physical activity is one of the leading risk factors for death worldwide.
- Insufficient physical activity is a key risk factor for noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer and diabetes.
- Physical activity has significant health benefits and contributes to prevent NCDs.
- Globally, 1 in 4 adults is not active enough.
- More than 80% of the world’s adolescent population is insufficiently physically active.
You may want to pay heed here that the above-mentioned facts talk about physical activity and not specifically exercising. So really isn’t that alarming? It means we don’t even move our body & body parts enough at all, ouch!
Don’t worry it’s not too late yet. WHO research shows that adults aged between 18-64 years, can stay healthy by performing either 150 minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of intense physical activity during the week. You can raise it up to 300 minutes a week to see wonders on the health front. Additionally, ensure you involve muscle strengthening exercises at least on 2 occasions. This remains true for adults aged 65 and above. Children and adolescents between the age group of 5-17 require more physical activity for them to become healthy adults. They need to time-in at least 60 minutes of vigorous physical activity daily. With muscle and bone strength exercises included thrice a week.
Talking about Activity, there is one place that people are by far more than active – the digital media (health) platform. Even WHO recognises the importance of digital platforms in modern day human life. Hence, they have partnered up with Google to connect with more people and relay the message down, the benefit of moving around more. They can also share better ways to stay active. Governments will also be using this potential to improve policies around and about more health coverage and work towards the Sustainable Development Goals.
You know this was coming: Eating Healthy. Now you can’t really be healthy if your eating habits are unhealthy. Ergo a list to checkmark your eating habits are healthy:
- Infants should be exclusively breastfed for the first 6 months
- Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables
- Eat less fat
- Limit intake of sugars
- Reduce salt intake
The last part of this initiative is No Tobacco. It’s proven that Tobacco has adverse effects on the health of the user and the people around. WHO fact sheet shows that it kills more than 7 million people each year, out of which almost a million die from the dangers of second-hand smoke. It may be tough leaving tobacco yet quitting it has proven immediate and long-term health benefits. And honestly, it cannot be more difficult than dropping dead.
Everyone wants to be healthy. I have never come across a person who doesn’t want to be healthy, but health like all our other aspirations needs work too. So, this year and moving into the next don’t ignore yourself, use these as a guidance tool to mark yourself on your healthy activity quotient. Take care stay active!