Editorial: JRCRS. 2019, 7(1). 1-2


1-The National health status and exercises

Dr. Karamatullah

Principal, Helping Hands Institute of Rehabilitation Sciences, Mansehra

Email: [email protected]

Full-Text PDF


The medal table of the Rio Olympics 2016 shows United States at the top(1) by securing 121 medals. United States was represented by 558 athletes. The majority of the top nations on the Olympic table are well developed countries which have optimum facilities for the exercises and physical activities. These countries have legislation in place which aims to promote and facilitate sports and exercises. Despite of the fact that Pakistan is the 5th populous country in the word, did not qualify for any medal in the last two decades and has poor image since 1947 in this arena. Unfortunately, Olympics games in Pakistan are considered as sporting events and source of entertainment, while health benefits as a pretext of national fitness are poorly understood.

The majority of the events in Olympics games are based on the aerobic exercise abilities. The events include, but not limited to, various kinds of sports where endurance, speed, accuracy and general fitness are rewarded in the form of medals. The vast majority of the athletes train for several years before they could qualify for a place in the Olympic squad.  Thousands of other disqualifies during the screening for each particular sports through various kinds of national competitions. And many hundreds of thousands other opt for amateur role and adapt to the sporting activity -asa pretext to keep themselves fit.

Pakistan squad in Olympic2016 was composed of 7 athletes- 4 men and 3 women and had more officials than athletes1. The desperate situation of Pakistan participation in the Olympics, unfortunately reflects the poor fitness status of national health.

According to a national survey 1990-1994(2) and the following reports, 33% of the population in Pakistan above the age 45 and 19% above the age 15 are suffering from a high blood pressure. And around 25% of people over the age of 45 suffer from Diabetes. Over all prevalence of diabetes in urban and rural areas is estimated around 28.3% and 25.3%, respectively (3).Currently Pakistan is ranked 6th worldwide in relation to the prevalence of diabetes and the figures are estimated to rise to 13 million  patient in 2020, making Pakistan the 4th largest diabetic population worldwide. Around 350,000 people suffer from stroke every year. Heart diseases related deaths are estimated around 200,000 (30-40%) per years. Obesity is estimated 9% and 14% in   men and women respectively in rural area of Pakistan. Urban areas have the prevalence of obesity of 22% in men and 37% in women for the obvious reasons. These statistics have reached to an epidemic level and needs emergency measures.

The major risk factor  of the high blood pressure, diabetes, cardiac diseases and  obesity are identified as sedentary lifestyle and physical inactivity(4-6).The World Health Organization’s estimates reveals 1.9 million deaths take place per year due to physical inactivity on a global level. In addition, 22% of heart related disease and 10-16% of breast cancers, colon cancer and diabetes are the results of the physical inactivity . WHO further estimates that inadequate physical activity in the developing countries range from 17 to 91% and 4-84% in the developing world(7).

Conversely, regular exercises play an important role in the reduction of the risk of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes(8), osteoarthritis, respiratory illnesses and hospital stay after admissions (9-11). Unfortunately, the population in Pakistan with respect to social status and lifestyle is diverse and accurate statistics with respect to exercise social class cannot be estimated.

“Exercise is the best medicine” and is one of the basic needs of health and wellbeing. The health professionals are therefore urged to prescribe more and more exercises and educate their patients regarding the benefits of exercises. The government authorities should optimize facility for sports and exercises on each level and department. Non-government voluntary organization, electronic media and trusts needs to launch campaigns to promote physical activity in order to educate the general population in relation to the greater health benefits of the exercises.

References

  1. https://web.archive.org/web/20160818234036/https://www.rio2016.com/en/medal-count-country#main. 2016.
  2. Chronic diseases. In: Pakistan National Health Survey 1990–1994. Health profile of peoples of Pakistan. Pakistan Medical Research Council 1998; 49-69.
  3. Basit A, Fawwad A, Qureshi H, Shera A. Prevalence of diabetes, pre-diabetes and associated risk factors: second National Diabetes Survey of Pakistan (NDSP), 2016–2017. BMJ open. 2018;8(8):e020961.
  4. Wei M, Gibbons LW, Kampert JB, Nichaman MZ, Blair SN. Low cardiorespiratory fitness and physical inactivity as predictors of mortality in men with type 2 diabetes. Annals of internal medicine. 2000;132(8):605-11.
  5. Venables MC, Jeukendrup AE. Physical inactivity and obesity: links with insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Diabetes/metabolism research and reviews. 2009;25(S1):S18-S23.
  6. Oldridge NB. Economic burden of physical inactivity: healthcare costs associated with cardiovascular disease. European Journal of Cardiovascular Prevention & Rehabilitation. 2008;15(2):130-9.
  7. WHO. Physical activity. 16 February.
  8. Chudyk A, Petrella RJ. Effects of exercise on cardiovascular risk factors in type 2 diabetes: a meta-analysis. Diabetes care. 2011;34(5):1228-37.
  9. Heran BS, Chen JM, Ebrahim S, Moxham T, Oldridge N, Rees K, et al. Exercise‐based cardiac rehabilitation for coronary heart disease. Cochrane database of systematic reviews. 2011 (7).
  10. Baillot A, Saunders S, Brunet J, Romain AJ, Trottier A, Bernard P. A systematic review and meta-analysis of the effect of exercise on psychosocial outcomes in adults with obesity: A call for more research. Mental Health and Physical Activity. 2018;14:1-10.
  11. Alford L. What men should know about the impact of physical activity on their health. International journal of clinical practice. 2010;64(13):1731-4.