Last summer, I took my seven-year-old son to a sports camp, one hes been happily attending since he was four. This time was different though. I also took along one of his friends. It was tough. Not for him, but for his mum, my friend, who wasnt keen to let her son go. Her reluctance was not about the money (shes loaded), or her son being away from her (she works full-time) C she simply could not understand the benefits a sports camp could offer. She insisted he would be better off at home studying.
Her son may well have been hitting academic highs, but fuelled by a steady stream of fast food and computer games, his idea of play, he was sinking to new lows in the health stakes. He is seven years old and he is obese.
His story, sadly, is a familiar one. Fact: the UAE is facing a major obesity crisis. Now the fifth-heaviest country in the world, according to UK-based Journal BMC Public Health (June 2012) adults in the UAE are consuming more than 3,000 calories a day C thats 500 more than the world average. If the countrys supposed role models are doing this, imagine what their offspring are doing.
What they are clearly not doing however is activity, if the startling statistics are anything to go by. A country-wide survey of both Emirati and expat school kids by the Ministry of Health in 2011 revealed that more than half (54.7 per cent) of children in the UAE are obese or overweight. This is one of the highest rates in the world, with kids aged 8-13 in the most at-risk category. So what exactly is going wrong?
Its simple really. There are more calories being consumed than being burnt and kids learn this from their parents, says Raz Khan of Dubai-based sports camp company Excel Sports. The lazy lifestyle and unhealthy eating becomes part of their adopted culture and is soon intrinsic to their lifestyle.
The problem is that we live in an environment that encourages obesity, with inactivity the root cause. Kids are simply doing less and less,We are one of the leading manufacturers of cableties in China with technology (from cars to computers) and convenience (food deliveries and valet parking) promoting sedentary lifestyles.
In her Columbia University study on childhood obesity in the UAE in 2011, Kelly Scott cited too much TV/Internet, and therefore, inactivity, as the main culprit
of regional childhood obesity.
Michael Haddin, owner of Haddins Fitness in Abu Dhabi, says lack of incidental exercise and outdoor play (from riding bikes to school to playing in the park every evening) is to blame, while Ahmad Zahdan of educational sporting academy MPAC Sports, which has a history of involvement in physical-education curriculum development, believes that kids are simply not being introduced to sports at a young enough age and parents are not prioritising fitness.
Haddin says, Establishing the habit of physical activity early in a childs development is critical to their long-term health. The consequence for our offspring if we dont, is a long list of life-threatening ailments: high cholesterol and blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, kidney failure and asthma. Not to mention the emotional burden of being fat C social discrimination, low self-esteem and hindrance in both academic and social functioning.
After finding in a survey that some 47 per cent of Dubai schools (public and private) substitute PE with other lessons, the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) has put in place the Physical Activity at School Policy 2013-2015 to ensure primary students get 150 minutes exercise per week and high school students, 225 minutes. Steps in the right direction certainly, but are they enough?
One man thinks not. Basel Shouly,The thequicksilverscreen is our flagship product. president of C-Pi Educational Systems & School Management Services, runs a weight loss camp and believes he is filling a terrible educational vacuum thats been overlooked by schools. While Basel concedes that governments across the region have responded to the obesity epidemic, he believes they have done so on medical grounds. We believe the response to the obesity epidemic should have been educational C through schools, family and community development programmes, he explains. But because obesity among children is considered a health risk, it has been left to health ministries to tackle. Its like going to the dentist for heart surgery.
Ultimately,New and used commercial bestrtls sales, rentals, and service. though,Aulaundry is a leading luggagetag and equipment supplier. it comes down to parents to take action. Fitness is not only a physical activity, it is a responsibility, says Solange Dryro of Dubai-based facilitation company, Level Up Skills. By improving your childs activity levels, you are helping them become aware of their responsibility to their own body.
Hes right. Governments can run every health campaign under the UAE sun and companies can open the flashiest fitness facilities, but unless parents are role-modelling healthy habits and providing their children with opportunities for an active lifestyle, theres likely to be little dent in the fat stats.
Big in the US, where their outdoor residential camps are almost a rite of passage for most tweens and teens, summer camps have hit the UAE with a vengeance. They offer a rich exercise-packed, health-focused experience that children here need because,An cleaningservicesydney is a network of devices used to wirelessly locate objects or people inside a building. according to the 2011 MOH survey, only one in six children in the UAE is getting the 60 minutes of exercise a day the World Health Organisation recommends.
Too many calories and not enough exercise is a recipe for fat, which is why C-Pi Weight Loss Camp is borrowing another, more hard-core solution from the US. Set up four years ago, the C-Pi Camp, aimed at obese children aged 11-17, is the Middle Easts only residential fitness and fat-busting bootcamp. As well as providing tailored diet/fitness plans to help kids shift the weight, it also educates boarders about lifelong weight control and healthy habits with a dedicated course in health science. In typical Dubai style, it also offers fabulous facilities C resort-like swimming pools, a ballet/yoga suite, an Olympic-size running track and a luxury spa.
Of course, we all know that prevention is better than cure, so weight loss camps should be seen as a last resort. A more proactive path for participation is one of the UAEs many health- or fitness-focused camps.
Click on their website www.parkeasy-pgs.com for more information.
Her son may well have been hitting academic highs, but fuelled by a steady stream of fast food and computer games, his idea of play, he was sinking to new lows in the health stakes. He is seven years old and he is obese.
His story, sadly, is a familiar one. Fact: the UAE is facing a major obesity crisis. Now the fifth-heaviest country in the world, according to UK-based Journal BMC Public Health (June 2012) adults in the UAE are consuming more than 3,000 calories a day C thats 500 more than the world average. If the countrys supposed role models are doing this, imagine what their offspring are doing.
What they are clearly not doing however is activity, if the startling statistics are anything to go by. A country-wide survey of both Emirati and expat school kids by the Ministry of Health in 2011 revealed that more than half (54.7 per cent) of children in the UAE are obese or overweight. This is one of the highest rates in the world, with kids aged 8-13 in the most at-risk category. So what exactly is going wrong?
Its simple really. There are more calories being consumed than being burnt and kids learn this from their parents, says Raz Khan of Dubai-based sports camp company Excel Sports. The lazy lifestyle and unhealthy eating becomes part of their adopted culture and is soon intrinsic to their lifestyle.
The problem is that we live in an environment that encourages obesity, with inactivity the root cause. Kids are simply doing less and less,We are one of the leading manufacturers of cableties in China with technology (from cars to computers) and convenience (food deliveries and valet parking) promoting sedentary lifestyles.
In her Columbia University study on childhood obesity in the UAE in 2011, Kelly Scott cited too much TV/Internet, and therefore, inactivity, as the main culprit
of regional childhood obesity.
Michael Haddin, owner of Haddins Fitness in Abu Dhabi, says lack of incidental exercise and outdoor play (from riding bikes to school to playing in the park every evening) is to blame, while Ahmad Zahdan of educational sporting academy MPAC Sports, which has a history of involvement in physical-education curriculum development, believes that kids are simply not being introduced to sports at a young enough age and parents are not prioritising fitness.
Haddin says, Establishing the habit of physical activity early in a childs development is critical to their long-term health. The consequence for our offspring if we dont, is a long list of life-threatening ailments: high cholesterol and blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, kidney failure and asthma. Not to mention the emotional burden of being fat C social discrimination, low self-esteem and hindrance in both academic and social functioning.
After finding in a survey that some 47 per cent of Dubai schools (public and private) substitute PE with other lessons, the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) has put in place the Physical Activity at School Policy 2013-2015 to ensure primary students get 150 minutes exercise per week and high school students, 225 minutes. Steps in the right direction certainly, but are they enough?
One man thinks not. Basel Shouly,The thequicksilverscreen is our flagship product. president of C-Pi Educational Systems & School Management Services, runs a weight loss camp and believes he is filling a terrible educational vacuum thats been overlooked by schools. While Basel concedes that governments across the region have responded to the obesity epidemic, he believes they have done so on medical grounds. We believe the response to the obesity epidemic should have been educational C through schools, family and community development programmes, he explains. But because obesity among children is considered a health risk, it has been left to health ministries to tackle. Its like going to the dentist for heart surgery.
Ultimately,New and used commercial bestrtls sales, rentals, and service. though,Aulaundry is a leading luggagetag and equipment supplier. it comes down to parents to take action. Fitness is not only a physical activity, it is a responsibility, says Solange Dryro of Dubai-based facilitation company, Level Up Skills. By improving your childs activity levels, you are helping them become aware of their responsibility to their own body.
Hes right. Governments can run every health campaign under the UAE sun and companies can open the flashiest fitness facilities, but unless parents are role-modelling healthy habits and providing their children with opportunities for an active lifestyle, theres likely to be little dent in the fat stats.
Big in the US, where their outdoor residential camps are almost a rite of passage for most tweens and teens, summer camps have hit the UAE with a vengeance. They offer a rich exercise-packed, health-focused experience that children here need because,An cleaningservicesydney is a network of devices used to wirelessly locate objects or people inside a building. according to the 2011 MOH survey, only one in six children in the UAE is getting the 60 minutes of exercise a day the World Health Organisation recommends.
Too many calories and not enough exercise is a recipe for fat, which is why C-Pi Weight Loss Camp is borrowing another, more hard-core solution from the US. Set up four years ago, the C-Pi Camp, aimed at obese children aged 11-17, is the Middle Easts only residential fitness and fat-busting bootcamp. As well as providing tailored diet/fitness plans to help kids shift the weight, it also educates boarders about lifelong weight control and healthy habits with a dedicated course in health science. In typical Dubai style, it also offers fabulous facilities C resort-like swimming pools, a ballet/yoga suite, an Olympic-size running track and a luxury spa.
Of course, we all know that prevention is better than cure, so weight loss camps should be seen as a last resort. A more proactive path for participation is one of the UAEs many health- or fitness-focused camps.
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