Wellness is a frequently used word at the moment and you can understand why.
Health reports tell us that 54% of our adult population and 23% of our youth are over weight or obese, 17% of adults have high blood pressure and only 20% of us achieve the recommended 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise a week. (1) Chronic diseases such as diabetes Type II, heart disease and some cancers are on the increase. However, healthier diets, regular physical activity and avoidance of tobacco products could reduce the occurrence of these diseases. (2) Adopting a couple of the following suggestions would be a good start point to improve our wellbeing.
Sit less and move more. Get our children off their electronic devices and outside so they can move. Eat better and reduce our sugar consumption. Big corporations need to set an example by encouraging a healthy work/life balance. Get outside to enjoy nature and the outdoors. Avoid hibernating in the winter. Adults need to lead by example.
I first paid attention to the inactivity in children about eight years ago, when I was living in the UK and my eldest son was in Grade 4. Since then, I have been working on a wellness program that focuses on elementary children and targets some of the key points above.
SO WHAT IS WELLNESS?
Wellness is about eating well, exercising, having grit, courage, resilience and belief in yourself that you can achieve your dreams with a bit of hard work. It is about learning from failure and being in a growth mindset of “I can’t yet but I will with hard work and effort”. Setbacks are there to challenge you and to enhance growth. Wellness is about your state of mind and how you balance negative thoughts. Wellness is about your all round “health and general well being”.
I am passionate about health and fitness, I have been for years. I have a vision that we can create
” A world where children and youth believe in themselves because they are physically fit, active and therefore confident in themselves and have great self esteem.”
I believe this is a Child’s Right. I know that through my life experiences, qualifications and ultra running, I have learnt many important things; good diet, adequate sleep, breathing from yoga exercises, patience, motivation, grit, determination, hard work pays off, resilience, adaptability, endurance, belief in myself and not to quit when the going gets tough.
So I have successfully delivered the project to one school in SW Calgary, and I am now planning to deliver this project to other elementary schools in Calgary. If you are interested then please contact me for more information.
REFERENCES: (1). Statistics Canada http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/82-625-x/2015001/article/14135-eng.htm (2). WHO FACING THE FACTS: THE IMPACT OF CHRONIC DISEASE IN CANADA http://www.who.int/chp/chronic_disease_report/media/CANADA.pdf