There’s a worrying trend in the UAE: our way of life is slowly killing us. Smoking, poor nutrition, sedentary lifestyles and obesity are contributing to some of the highest rates of heart disease and diabetes in the world and we have only ourselves to blame. What’s more, we’re passing our poor lifestyle habits on to our children and for the first time in history, the younger generation is tipped to have a shorter lifespan than we do.
Last year, the average age of patients admitted for heart attack at Dubai’s Rashid Hospital was 20 years younger than the global average and the percentage of people diagnosed with diabetes in the UAE was almost 20 per cent – that’s double the global average. In 2012, the Health Authority – Abu Dhabi reported that heart disease accounted for more than a quarter of all deaths, while 33 per cent of Emirati men and 38 per cent of Emirati women were obese.
But we can reverse this trend. With the right nutrition and just 30 minutes of exercise a day, we can reduce the risk of lifestyle-related diseases and can regain our health if we’ve already been diagnosed.
Professor Maha Barakat, the director general of Haad, says that exercise is important for everyone, regardless of age or gender, if we are to get healthy and stay that way. “Prevention is better than cure and there are so many conditions that we can protect ourselves from – obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and even certain types of cancer,” she explains.
We just need to get off our chairs and start moving, according to Bashar Al Ramahi, the head of the Imperial College London Diabetes Centre. “Just 30 minutes of walking each day can cut the risk of diabetes by 58 per cent. There is no need for a gym or fancy equipment and it can be done anywhere. No one has an excuse not to find half an hour each day, whether it’s at the shopping mall, school or at work.”
The key to maintaining a fitness regime is to make it fun and usually that involves teaming up with others, whether it’s for a game of basketball, a group exercise class or a stroll in the park with your children.
The former NBA player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who recently visited the UAE, is an ambassador for healthy living and believes being active can "add years to your life and life to your years". He says that without exercise, our health deteriorates quickly. "You do not have to become a world-class athlete, just do some regular activity and do it for yourself. Thirty minutes a day is all it takes."
So how can we make sure we get these 30 minutes? Here are some easy tips:
– Use public transport more
– Take the stairs instead of the lift
– Park farther away
– Go for an after-dinner stroll
– Don't sit for long periods. Get up and move around every hour.
Alongside our 30 minutes of activity each day, we also need to make sure we are eating the right kind of food, and that, according to Barakat, means reducing our intake of sugar, salt and calories, as well as giving up smoking if we happen to have that bad habit.
Don’t become a statistic. Get off the sofa and start moving today.
