Survey highlights need to promote exercise in Dubai

Only a very small section of Dubai residents exercise regularly to ward off the common lifestyle diseases affecting residents here, according to a survey. The survey results show that there is an urgent need to promote exercise to stave off diabetes, heart trouble and strokes among other health issues, a senior official from the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) said on Wednesday. Only 19 per cent of Dubai residents were found to be exercising regularly. The comprehensive survey was based on feedback from 5,000 households in Dubai and was jointly conducted by the DHA and the Dubai Statistics Centre. "The results strongly advocate the need to promote regular exercise as just about one-fifth of our population gets sufficient exercise required to stay healthy," said Laila Al Jassmi, CEO of Health Policy and Strategy at the DHA. Article continues below She said among Emiratis aged 40 to 59 years, only seven per cent get enough exercise to stay healthy. "Lack of exercise is known to be a key factor that triggers off a host of lifestyle diseases," she adds. "The survey asked respondents whether they are involved in any kind of vigorous or moderately intense activity that increases their heart rate for at least 10 minutes continuously," said Dr. Eldaw Abdullah Sulaiman, head of Research and Performance Management at DHA. The results of the survey were split into two groups — exercise patterns for the population of Dubai and exercise patterns for Emiratis in Dubai.