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Chapter 10 - Archives of Headlines
Community Recreation and Fitness
Two-thirds of Canadians are couch potatoes (Health
Canada, 21 October 1998) - So says a national survey of Canadians' physical activity
patterns conducted by the Canadian Fitness and Lifestyle Research Institute (CFLRI).
Health Canada, in partnership with the Canadian Society of Exercise Physiology (CSEP),
have launched Canada's Physical Activity Guide to Healthy Active Living. Only one hour a
day, in 10-minute segments, is all it takes to achieve health benefits, says the guide:
"Your body is designed to move and it's surprising how little time it takes to stay
healthy and reduce the risk of disease if you are physically active, regularly."
Exercise cuts stroke risk in half WASHINGTON (Reuters, Oct.9, 1998) - Just an
hour of exercise a day cuts people's risk of stroke in half, doctors reported Thursday.
They said a study of 11,000 people showed that people who did the equivalent of a hour's
brisk walking, five days a week, had a 46% lower risk of stroke than people who did no
exercise. Even half that much exercise - the equivalent of a brisk half-hour walk most
days - cuts the stroke risk by 24%. Writing in the American Heart Association journal
Stroke, Dr. I-Min Lee of the Harvard School of Public Health said his team tracked Harvard
graduates taking part in a study since 1962.
Young Still Practising Unsafe Holiday Sex BBC Online (08/10/98) New
research from Britain's Health Education Authority indicates that 16 percent of 400 people
between the ages of 18 and 32 reported having sexual intercourse with a new partner while
on vacation. According to the report, only 50 percent of those individuals used a condom
each time they had sex and just 12 percent cited HIV as a health issue for vacationers.
More than 80 percent of those questioned said that alcohol played a key role in people
having sex while on vacation, as were anonymity, loss of inhibitions in a strange locale,
and peer pressure. To combat this trend, the HEA has initiated a Safer Sex Campaign that
encourages young people to use condoms via advertising on charter flights and posters in
nightclubs.
Holiday Flu on Alaskan Cruises. This and the other MMWR issues can be
accessed at
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/
Physical Activity Protects: Engaging in hard labor may be saving Mennonites from
high cholesterol, even though they eat as much fat as other Americans, researchers
reported. They said the Mennonites were leaner than most other Americans, apparently
because they work hard on their farms. Dr. Myron Glick of the State University of New York
at Buffalo and colleagues questioned more than 200 Old Order Mennonites living in Yates
County, N.Y. Most live on dairy farms, do not use motorized vehicles and abstain from
alcohol and tobacco. To get around they use carriages or bicycles, ride horses and walk.
They eat plenty of red meat and dairy products - all loaded with cholesterol. But they are
less prone to be overweight than the average American and do not have high cholesterol
levels. (Based on Reuters, August 8, 1998)
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