Step up to better health with new campaign | Latest Newry News, Newry Sport and Newry Business for Newry City

Step up to better health with new campaign

The Public Health Agency (PHA) is calling on people to quite literally take some simple steps to better health.

walk4With three out of five adults here overweight or obese, the agency’s new campaign is encouraging us to increase the amount of steps we take to improve our health and help manage our weight.

The campaign, part of the Choose to Live Better programme, encourages people to measure how many steps they take, and then set personal goals to increase this number.

Health Minister Michelle O’Neill said, “I am delighted to launch this new campaign which encourages us all to reduce the amount of time we spend being sedentary and to move more. It may seem like a simple message but overweight and obesity is a growing public health issue, and has a real impact on individuals and on our health system.

“Building physical activity into a daily routine is a practical way to ensure we make it easy to move more and be active, and this will help reduce the risk of getting long-term health conditions such as heart disease, some cancers and type 2 diabetes.

“By making simple lifestyle changes to include more exercise, such as walking or cycling, we can not only maintain a healthy weight but also improve our mental health by helping prevent depression and maintain positive self-esteem.”

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May June 2016 updatedDr Eddie Rooney, Chief Executive of the PHA, added, “Maintaining a healthy weight is important for everyone. Overweight and obesity can have a major impact on our health and wellbeing, so we are encouraging people to literally take some simple steps each day to help them keep active and lose weight.

“You can boost your step count by walking or running, for example, but other activities such as swimming or cycling count too – you can find out about these activities and more on our website www.choosetolivebetter.com. Increase your activity and set goals in a way that works for you and you’ll start to see the benefits.

He added, “By using a pedometer or smartphone to measure the steps we take, we can see what our current step count is and track how we can improve it over time. This can be done by simply building extra activity into our everyday lives, such as going for a walk with the dog, getting off the bus one stop early, or walking instead of driving to the shops.”

For information and advice, visit www.choosetolivebetter.com

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Posted by on Jun 23 2016. Filed under Community. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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