“TODAY we are seeing more and more young people around 20, 25, 30  and even 40 years old with several non-communicable diseases like diabetes, hypertension and heart problems and this is because our people are no longer exercising and spending time doing the things that will cause them to be healthy,” This was the assertion made by Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport Dr Frank Anthony recently while speaking to a number of schoolchildren involved in sports, after congratulating them for taking time to be engaged in sporting activities, noting that it would play a pivotal role in their holistic development.
“Let me state that this myth that sports and education can’t mix is totally false as we see people who are actively involved in sports are doing very well academically. What we need to do is to balance it, as too many of young people are dying because they are no longer living healthy and this has to stop,” he declared.
Dr Anthony urged the students to continue being actively involved in sports noting that his ministry stands committed to lending whatever assistance and support to institutions and organisations in helping to spread the importance of healthy lifestyles.
He cautioned parents about the importance of exercise pointing out that recent figures have suggested that people should spend at least one hour a day exercising.
“Games, television, computers and other things are engaging the time of our young people and as parents you need to help them to understand that living healthy lifestyles requires them being engaged in activities that will aid in prolonging their lives. I trust that more parents would be actively involved in guiding their children down the road of healthy lifestyles.”
He warned parents to not just enrol their children in some sporting group or organisation but rather to be intimately involved thus ensuring that they can also be a part of healthy lifestyles.
“Don’t just go and drop your child off to practice or somewhere but rather be intimately involved in what they are doing so that you too can benefit from it. Parents, I urge you to also encourage your parents and friends to exercise more as we cannot continue losing our young people to non-communicable diseases,” a passionate Dr Anthony said.
He stressed that should more people make lifestyle changes in terms of the way that they go about their lives, then a number of diseases that claim the lives of young people would be greatly reduced, reiterating his desire for all to spend more time engaged in exercising thus ensuring that they can live better and longer lives.
“If you count the time that you spend eating breakfast, lunch, dinner and all the snacks that you eat during the day I am sure that it would be more than one hour so if you can spend over a hour a day eating then you should be able to at least spend one hour a day exercising as we need to take control of our lives and make relevant lifestyle changes,” he noted.
He congratulated the students and reminded them that being actively involved in sports will certainly help them academically reminding them that they can be the agents of change.
“I would like each of you to go out encouraging your friends, relatives, neighbours and parents, and, if you can help to highlight the importance of sports and its benefits, then you would be helping in ensuring that more people live healthier lives,” he said.