Survey: Irish children among "most unhealthy" in terms of lifestyle

22nd June 2001 - The vhi.ie website fitness expert today urged people to celebrate National Exercise Days (Friday 22 & Sat. 23 June) by actively participating in healthy living activities with their children.

Latest research by the World Health Organisation highlights that Irish children are reported to be among the "most unhealthy" of lifestyles.

vhi.ie website fitness expert Wendy Torrens says "active living activities such as walking, cycling and dancing can have positive benefits for children".

Some Key Tips for the weekend from Wendy in planning activities with your children:

• Start with short periods of fun exercise, not too competitive so those inactive children can succeed
• Include warm up routines followed by mobilisation and stretching exercises to prevent injury.
• Present exercise in a casual fun way rather than a formal programme. Parents can consider active games such as a treasure hunt, paper chase as key motivators to keep children excited about activities.
• Plan daily activities for yourself and children to do together such as a walk or a short cycle ride to a park or playground. The aim is to start slowly and build up to 30 minutes of accumulated moderate intensity exercise everyday of your life. This means using the stairs as a family, not the lifts, etc.
• Combine music and movement to allow children to express themselves and enjoy exercise at the same time.

"Breaking old habits can be difficult but it is worth the effort in helping your children enjoy a regular routine of healthy exercise activities. Not only will it provide beneficial effects in the short term, it will provide long term benefits in quality of life and health for both parents and children" said Wendy.

vhi.ie is the first website in Ireland offering customised healthcare information on all aspects of health and healthy living. vhi.ie supports "Active Living" with regular information updates in its fitness domain.

Visit "Ask the Expert" on www.vhi.ie.and put your exercise and fitness questions to Wendy.

For interview with Wendy Torrens, please contact:

Kathleen Cahill, Public Relations Manager

Ph: 01-7997026 or 087-2538279

NOTES

Wendy Torrens BA (Hons) MSc. PGCE is a graduate of the University of Ulster at Jordanstown. Since graduating, Wendy has worked within the Corporate Occupational Health sector for both public and private bodies, developing workplace health promotion programmes. Wendy has recently been appointed to the Product & Business Development team in Vhi Healthcare to develop Corporate Health initiatives.