There is a small island called the United Kingdom that has a health service that is unlike any other. It is by far the worst system I have ever come across and of course I have first hand experience. I don’t think we can blame any one reason for this, but I expect one of the main reasons is that it is over used and under resourced. Now of course one way to deal with it is to throw more money at it, which our government in all its wisdom is doing and watching it disappear with little or no change. I personally feel that a long term approach is better and reading articles like I have done today on Yahoo.com proves my point. The article is entitled “Lack of exercise costs NHS 1 Billion”. This is according to new research and it found that 3% of all deaths and illnesses in 2002 were caused by the “couch potato” lifestyle. In my opinion this figure is probably vastly underestimated and it doesn’t include all the financial ramifications due to lost productivity and other indirect costs.

Lack of Exercise and Premature Death

In 2003/4 more than 287,000 people died from diseases associated with a lack of exercise, these included heart disease, strokes and diabetes. I find these figures terrifying and I wonder what they are in the States and other developed countries. I mean people dying young and leaving their families so distressed just because they just couldn’t be bothered to exercise when they had the chance. It goes to prove that exercise in one form or another is essential for our wellbeing and long-term health. I guarantee that if everyone exercised and ate more healthily the burden on the NHS would be greatly reduced, even more so than the figures suggest. You see exercising doesn’t just help prevent the main illnesses associated with being fit but it also has secondary advantages. By being healthier our immune systems become stronger, much stronger and this prevents many more illnesses. We also become more co-ordinated and aware of our surroundings which means a reduction in accidents and by eating healthily we give our bodies the nutrients it needs so we live longer. By changing our diets we put less stress on our digestive systems, liver and kidneys, by not smoking we improve our lung functions and avoid illnesses associated with smoking. All these changes could ease the stress on a system that is already running to bursting point.

We Can Make a Real Difference

Sometimes we are all too keen to say the government is not doing enough, (it always amazes me where all our taxes go.) However the feeling of “if I make the change what difference is it going to make?” is small minded. It is all too easy to blame someone else but for the majority of Westerners we have the luxury of our choices making a real difference to the societies we live in. All right, just you on your own won’t make a difference to the world around you, but it will make a huge difference to your life and your family’s life and if we all realised that then in time we will see the difference to the world around us. So get off your couch, empty your cupboards of all the rubbish food and get to the shops and replace them with real food. Start exercising by joining a gym, taking part in classes, go jogging, learn a sport, learn to dance, in fact anything that gets you moving and enjoying life. I promise you that you will eventually love it. Even if you don’t care about the rest of the world or your friends and family just do it for yourself.

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This entry was Posted on Tuesday, March 20th, 2007 at 11:03 pm and is filed under Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.