Exercise Also Good for Mental Health

W HO promotes lifestyle modification

By MIKE GOMEZ

Already a longtime advocate of healthy lifestyles, the World Health Organization made a particularly strong pitch for the benefits of physical activity in preventing many fatal and disabling noncommunicable diseases such as diabetes, obesity, osteoporosis, and, of course, cardiovascular diseases.

     “We have good news, and even better news,” quipped WHO Western Pacific Director Dr. Shigeru Omi at a news briefing in observance of World Health Day. While most people are already aware of the role of regular exercise in preventing obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and coronary heart disease, Dr. Omi cited the better news which is: regular exercise coupled with a healthy diet and no tobacco, can reduce the chance of getting cancer by close to 70 percent.

     Having made impressive headway in its communicable disease control efforts in the Region, the WHO has shifted its thrust towards addressing lifestyle-related diseases that can be prevented by behavioral modification. Dr. Omi said that such modifications will not only enhance physical health, but also improve one’s mental health.

     This year’s World Health Day message is a call for a change in lifestyle for the people of this region, where non-communicable diseases, especially heart disease and strokes, presently account for 8 out of 10 deaths. Dr. Omi pointed out the three simple steps people need to take in pursuing a healthy lifestyle:

     • Get moving

     Physical exercise need not require costly gym hours, or structured activities. Simply forgoing elevator rides, reducing dependence on automation and labor-saving technology, and doing light calisthenics during one's daily tasks at home or at work will go a long way in enhancing physical and mental health.

     • Stop smoking

     Tobacco use reigns as top factor in noncommunicable diseases of all kinds. No other action is known to have such a positive impact on health than smoking cessation.

     • Good diet

     A balanced and healthy diet includes five servings of fruits or vegetables a day, less refined sugar and salt, and reduced fat intake. WHO stresses that so-called nutritional supplements are not generally necessary.

Supportive environments

     Health Secretary Manuel M. Dayrit noted that not all people enjoy the luxury of a clean and healthy place for exercise—as pollution, urban congestion, criminality, and unsuitable terrain often deny them appropriate venues for physical activity. The DoH lauds efforts of local executives who take appropriate steps to provide people with safe, clean, and healthy park areas where they can play and exercise.

     Dr. Dayrit stressed the role of local officials in enabling people to pursue healthy lifestyles is manifested in their implementation of laws protecting citizens from the effects of sidestream or environmental tobacco smoke. The DoH can do its utmost in advocating protection against tobacco smoke. But these initiatives should be augmented by the passage of local ordinances and measures and citizen participation in voicing concerns about the rights of non-smokers in public places. Dr. Dayrit told medical observer that Marikina City has been placed in the honor roll of the Department's “Healthy Settings” program for providing supportive environments for people hoping to lead healthy lifestyles.

     The WHO is optimistic that the protocols of the International Convention on Tobacco Control will soon be ratified by member-states, including the Philippines. This convention encompasses several issues on tobacco control such as limitation of cigarette sale to minors and regulation of advertising and promotion. Dr. Omi pointed out that the international tobacco firms are shifting their market to this part of the world because advertising and promotions have reached saturation  in developed countries, and growing health consciousness is prompting more people to quit smoking.

Exercise routine

     In cooperation with the WHO, the DoH celebrated World Health Day on April 7 with the theme Move for Health. Thousands took part in a mass calisthenics routine developed and led by the University of the Philippines College of Human Kinetics to highlight the celebration.

     Professor Gilda Uy of the College of Human Kinetics stressed that exercise should be a part of one’s daily life and not merely an occasional event. Noting that people are often “too busy” to exercise, she explained that daily exercise need not be a structured activity.

     To demonstrate this, the College developed for the WHO a series of simple exercises that “busy people” can integrate into their daily work routines at the office. Entitled Time for Health, the Office Exercise Routine has been packaged in a PC-compatible compact disc, making them useful in countless offices.

     The exercise routine CD features digital video of simple calisthenics performed either standing or sitting. These exercises would clearly go a long way in reducing stress, tension, and mental fatigue in a frenetic office environment.

TB Devastating World’s Poor

     Strong action is needed to fight off tuberculosis. In the Western Pacific Region every day 1000 people, most of them poor, die from TB and thousands more fall sick from the disease. These alarming figures from the WHO Regional Office were released on March 24, World TB Day.

“It is unacceptable that a curable disease such as TB continues to strike down millions every year, when treatment costs as little as US$10 per patient,” says Dr. Shigeru Omi.

     TB is on the rise worldwide. Dr. Omi says developing countries face a full-blown TB crisis. In fact, 99 percent of TB deaths occur in the developing world, perpetuating a cycle of poverty nearly impossible to escape.

     One of the problems is funding. Countries in the Western Pacific Region facing the highest levels of TB need another US $265 million—nearly half of their TB control budget—to fight TB effectively over the next five years. The money would go toward implementing Directly Observed Treatment, Short-course, a TB control program offering free diagnosis and treatment.

     The DOTS strategy has more than a 90 percent cure rate in the WPR. But of the estimated two million new cases each year in the region, only about a third are treated with the DOTS strategy.

     There is a close link between TB and poverty. The countries in the Region with the highest levels of TB are Cambodia, China, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, and Viet Nam, all countries with high levels of poverty.

     The poor are more likely to suffer from TB, which strikes in situations of overcrowding, inadequate ventilation and malnutrition. The poor also tend to receive inadequate health care. The result: ill-health worsens poverty.

     Dr. Omi says governments will be able to contribute to alleviating poverty by controlling diseases such as TB. “Studies show us that disease is a major factor in poverty. By lifting the disease burden, you give the poor at least a fighting chance to raise themselves out of poverty.”

     TB is economically hard on families because 70 percent of TB victims are 15 to 54 years old, the most productive working years. Approximately 20 to 30 percent of a household’s annual income may be lost if the breadwinner becomes sick with TB. If the TB sufferer dies, an average of 15 years of income will be lost.

     “The benefits of diagnosing and treating TB far outweigh the economic costs of what happens when this devastating disease is left untreated,” Dr. Omi says. He warns that, while the TB situation is alarming in poor countries, industrialized countries are also faced with a TB epidemic of their own. With increasing globalization of trade and travel, TB bacteria cross borders easily. In 2000, nearly 100,000 TB cases in Europe and North America were attributed to cross border travels.

     Despite the funding shortfall, Dr. Omi says the Stop TB cause has been gathering steam.  Since the establishment of the TB Special Project in 1999, a strong foundation for TB control has been put in place in the Region.  Furthermore, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB  and Malaria, currently worth US$1.9 billion, was set up in 2001. In addition, international and social support has been growing to fight diseases that cause poverty. If governments and international donors are able to come up with the funding shortfall in this region, TB deaths will be cut by 50 percent in the next decade.   

AFP