THE Provost of the Medical School of the University of Ghana, Professor Yao Tettey, has urged Ghanaians to incorporate exercises to their daily activities to reduce the health risks associated with their sedentary lifestyles.
He said 20 to 30 minutes of daily exercise was sufficient “to keep you healthy and save you from spending so much on medicine for your health.”
Prof Tettey was addressing parishioners of the St John the Evangelist Catholic Church, Adenta after they joined Brothers and Sisters of Council 94 and Court 90, Adenta in a health walk.
Organised on the theme, “Happy health, happy life”, the participants were led by a brass band provided by Nestle Ghana Ltd to undertake a six-kilometre walk through the Adenta SSNIT Flats through Frafraha on the Dodowa road and back to the church premises.
Benefits of exercise
“Exercise keeps you healthy. It can prevent a lot of diseases. When you walk, you generate a lot of waste. When you sweat during exercise there is a lot of waste generated in your waste which the sweat takes some out and also takes heat out of your body to stablise your body temperature,” Professor Tettey said.
He said more importantly, exercise kept the heart healthy, adding that apart from the health aspect, “exercise makes you feel good and look smart.”
Professor Tettey explained that exercise was not a day’s activity, but a continuous one reminding them that, “When you exercise the frequency of which you get flu will diseases, malaria will decrease, diabetes will decrease, hypertension will decrease.”
The Provost reminded the people that once they ate, they needed to exercise and particularly warned against those who often drove to their offices, sat throughout the day and drove back home, stressing that it was a bad habit and a risk to their health.
“Such people can find a nice parking place close to their work, so that they can always park there and walk to their work place and when they close, they walk back there to pick their cars. That is a good exercise,” he suggested.
Alcohol & cigarette
On diet, Professor Tettey advised Ghanaians to watch what they ate and drank, warning, “Alcohol is not good. If you can, stop it, because it affects your health.”
“As for cigarette, it is a killer. It is worse as compared to alcohol. Because when you smoke, you don’t just take it alone. All those who are around are affected. In Ghana, smoking in public place is ban and so you have the authority to tell the one smoking to stop,” he advised.
Grand Knight
The Grand Knight, Brother Tom Mawusi urged brothers and sisters to take their health issues seriously by exercising and frequently checking their health status.
“We want to let everybody appreciate the importance of exercise and make it part of their lives. My Noble Lady and I want to promote good health through such exercises as well as charity work within the community in which operate,” he said.
Bro Mawusi said his philosophy had been that, “once you have health you have life”, and that it was he and his Noble Lady were promoting.
Write up by Bro Severious Kale-Dery