Friday, March 29, 2024 | Ramadan 18, 1445 H
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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Burn it out...

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Four per cent of children above the age of 5 years are overweight while more women are obese compared to men, according to the Ministry of Health statistics.


And the remedy to reverse the scenario lies in the hands of every individual who would like to lead a healthy life.


The statistics further suggests that more than 60 per cent of the Omani population is either obese or suffering from overweight thanks to the unhealthy eating habits and sedentary lifestyle.


“Leading an active lifestyle, rephrasing the eating regime are two important factors that can help get rid of those extra calories from the body,” says Dr Shadha al Raisi, Director of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD).


Having high rate of obesity is paving the way for a number of non-communicable diseases which are not contagious, chronic and often progress slowly.


Almost 72 per cent of the mortalities happening in the country are due to Non- Communicable Diseases (NCDs) and this is predominantly owing to the lifestyle, addiction towards technological gadgets leading to a sedentary lifestyle, the report on NCDs suggests.


Out of the 72 per cent, 18 per cent of them are premature, which happens to the people in the age brackets of 30-69 years.


Major non-communicable diseases found in the Sultanate are cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer and chronic respiratory disease.


The total number of deaths due to non-communicable diseases is 72 per cent and 36 per cent of them are caused by cardiovascular diseases, followed by cancer (11 per cent), diabetes (8 per cent) and chronic respiratory disease (2 per cent).


Dr Raman, Chairman and Senior Consultant Cardiologist at Al Hayat International Hospital, says that unless we control this epidemic of obesity, lifestyle diseases will cause expenditure of billions of rials.


“Many diseases today are caused by obesity, diabetes, high BP, heart attack, atrial fibrillation, cancer, osteoporosis, stroke, obstructive sleep apnea, reflux, liver cirrhosis and many more.”


“What we need is continuous awareness among the members of society on healthy eating habits, by reducing oily and fatty foods like junk food, colas, by promoting healthy, nutritious diet with ample vegetables, salads, fruits, high fibre and low sugar diet,” opines Dr Dilip Singhvi, Specialist at Apollo Hospital.


According to lifestyle experts, doing some form of physical exercise like 30 minutes brisk walking five times per week or 20 minutes jogging will help in reducing the weight and keeping it in check to save the people from this pandemic.


The reason behind the increasing number of obese children in the Sultanate is attributed to the ongoing pandemic which kept the juniors indoors. To reverse this, including healthy lifestyle a part of school curriculum would pay. Similarly, when the schools start normal functioning, efforts should be initiated to ban junk foods from the school canteens and all fast food joints should list out and display the harmful ingredients used in food items.


Let’s burn it out by following a healthy regime. Apart from leading an active lifestyle by including regular walking, jogging, and cycling in our routine, improper sleeping patterns (sleeping late and getting up late), junk foods, consuming a lot of caffeine should be excluded from our life forever.


KABEER YOUSUF


@kabeeryousef


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