18th November, 2001
Senator Mary Henry, MD: There has been a dramatic increase in the incidence of diabetes, particularly type 2 diabetes, world wide and Ireland has not escaped. Taking on the Presidency of this important organisation, one of my aims over the next couple of years would be to promote a life style for children and teenagers which would encourage exercise and hopefully lead to a diminution in the number who are obese and, therefore, far more likely to develop diabetes with all its complications.
Children's life styles have changed in Ireland. They are far less active than children of even one generation ago and the older they get the less active they are. In 1999 Dr. Annette Rhatigan from the Health Promotion Department in the Eastern Health Board and Dr. Emer Shelly, Department of Public Health, Eastern Health Board interviewed 4750 students aged between 11 and 18 regarding how they spent their leisure time. To cut a long story short, 227 said they watched television for more than four hours every day and with boys there was a definite class gradient - the boys from lower socio-economic groups watched far more than those from higher groups. 21% of boys spent seven hours a week or more playing computer games. On the plus side for boys, over half reported exercising strenuously at least four times a week, but only 40% of girls did the same. Fewer and fewer children walk or cycle to school so that even what could be described as "non strenuous" exercise has decreased.
Dr. Tony Watson of the University of Limerick Growth and Development Research Centre carried out a survey in 1996 which gave similar results. Most children in Ireland are less active than their other European counterparts. It takes years to show exactly what a lack of activity does to a person but the number of obese adolescents developing diabetes here has to be a cause of great concern.
Juliette Hussey in the Department of Physiotherapy has produced findings similar to Tony Watson. It is not just our adoption of an American style of eating, particularly for children, that has lead to us developing American style bodies, lack of exercise is important as well.
There is every incentive to encourage increasing our everyday activity. The average time it takes to carry out a 5 km car journey in Singapore is 9 minutes, London 13 minutes, Paris 15 minutes, Cairo 29 minutes, Bombay 37 minutes and Dublin 59 minutes. Part of the solution is to encourage all of us to walk to work or school, at least part of the way.
