13th October 2000
We are all back at Leinster House after what is jovially referred to by others as "our three month holiday" and by the inmates of Leinster House as "the recess". One of the most noticeable features of some of the men in particular is the loose suits. Indeed, Jimmy Deenihan looks fit to lead the Kerry team to victory again. This is an appalling place for putting on weight - it is hard to take exercise.
Please don't believe reports which suggest our office moves (in my case from one basement to another, although admittedly a better basement) went smoothly. We are still in chaos, with mail difficult to find and impossible to reply to. But some reports have surfaced, the "Pan-EU Survey on Consumer Attitudes to Physical Activity, Body-Weight and Health" being among them.
Maybe it is because of my guilty conscience following all that pasta on the Tuscan holiday that this was the report which beamed up from my desk. It had been a shock to read an Irish survey during the summer which found that we Irish adults have on average increased in weight by 6 kgs in the last 10 years. Sneakily wanting to find out how bad the personal situation was in relation to the national I asked a midwife in the Rotunda to weigh and measure me. Amazingly, I was nearly 2 cms smaller than I thought I was and several kilos heavier. The sympathetic midwife who carries out this function for many women said they, too, frequently had the same reaction as I had. They thought they were taller and slimmer than they were. Knowing one's BMI (weight in kilos over height in metres squared) is all the go nowadays. After calculating mine I could see that action must be taken.
The E.U. survey concentrates on correlating attitudes to physical activity and body weight. It looks at the different attitudes of people of various ages and education to improving their health by increased exercise. Some of the results are fascinating. Both by age group and education level we are up there with the Swedes and the Finns in participation in walking - over 50% to nearly 70% of Irish people walk a significant distance each day, well over the EU average of 30% to 40%. Now, we all know the Scandinavians are all into fitness but could we be inadvertently benefiting from our deplorable traffic situation. Cars don't move, taxis aren't there and buses don't come, so what do we do? We walk! Has anyone congratulated the Government on making us take up this healthy pastime? No. All they get is abuse, especially when we are wet and cold.
When 3% of Irish adults take part in athletics each week why didn't we do better than the U.K. where only 1% are involved. They got loads of medals, we got one thanks to Sonia. (I can see an adjournment debate for Jim McDaid, Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation, on this one). We were top of the list for participation in golf so no wonder we are doing so well there.
During the recess Tánaiste Mary Harney in a speech in Boston suggested we in Ireland were closer to Boston than Berlin and Minister Síle deValera, on the topic of the enlargement of the European Union, queried if we were losing our Irish identity in an enlarged Europe. The results of recent surveys would suggest we are losing our shape in favour of the American rather than the Eastern European model.
The Department of Health has highlighted the fact that Irish children have one of the E.U's highest consumption rates of confectionery and soft drinks. Juliette Hussey, a lecturer in physiotherapy in Trinity College, surveyed the activity levels of nearly 800 Dublin school children recently. One third of seven to nine year olds were driven to school, another piece of evidence of our poor transport system. On average, Irish children have one and a half hours of P.E. per school week whereas the normal EU level is three hours. There is no proper P.E. at primary level, the children must rely on the initiative of their teachers. This is an important issue. Obese children become obese adults. The explosion in the numbers of Type 2 diabetes patients seems to have lead to an increase in the number of pharmaceutical remedies rather than a serious attempt to address the underlying issue - obesity. We can add on hypertension and cardiac disease and can see that fat is not fun, fat is not fab.
On television recently I watched a man who had lost 4 stone (he had been over 20 stone) explaining how unfunny it really was to be grossly overweight. He couldn't tie his shoes but as long as he kept a smile on his face people thought he was happy.
In another survey Dr. Tony Watson of the University of Limerick, found that 40% of secondary school girls were seriously overweight. At present 50% of Irish adults BMI levels are normal, only 8% are obese. But is this likely to continue if so many children are obese? With our dietician colleagues, with teachers, with sporting bodies there is obviously a mountain to be moved and parents could help by walking with their children.
Senator Mary Henry, MD
