Minister Denzil Douglas promotes health, encourages people to exercise

Minister of Foreign Affairs of St Kitts and Nevis, Dr Denzil Douglas promoted healthy lifestyle and called it a key to happy, prosperous and longer life. He therefore, called out all the citizens of the country to adopt healthy practices with a vision to reduce the risk of disease, lengthen lifespan and benefit the overall environment.

While sharing the glimpses of him working out in the gym, Minister Denzil Douglas stated that exercise is the basic necessity either regular or daily but one should definitely adopt such approaches.

Minister Douglas stated that the exercise could be either done at a gym or by just walking around the neighbourhood with a friend or family member.

“Your HEALTH first! Our Health, is all that some of us have, Our Health is our WEALTH,” noted Minister Denzil Douglas.

Moreover, Minister Denzil Douglas shed light on the surge in non-communicable diseases among the people. He stated that non-communicable diseases such as Hypertension (high blood pressure), Diabetes (sugar), heart disease, kidney disease and Stroke are continuing to affect the people and have become the leading causes of deaths worldwide.

He therefore urged the citizens to exercise as it plays a huge role in preventing and managing non-communicable diseases. He stated that such physical activities improve the overall well-being, significantly reduces symptoms of depression and anxiety, and enhances the overall skills of a person.

“I’m calling on our People, to take care of yourselves. Exercises do help,” noted Minister Douglas.

Moreover, there are several types of exercise which are necessary to be done by the people in order to enhance their endurance, strength, balance and flexibility.

ENDURANCE: These activities play a huge role in keeping a person healthy, improve their fitness and helping them perform the tasks they need to do every day. Endurance exercises also enhance the health of the one’s heart lungs and circulatory system. It also helps to prevent many diseases that are common in older adults such as diabetes, colon and breast cancers, heart disease, and others.

STRENGTH: Strength is very necessary in person as it helps a person to stay independent and make everyday activities feel easier, like getting up from a chair, climbing stairs and carrying groceries. It also helps to keep muscles strong which prevent the person from any kind of injuries.

BALANCE: Balance exercises also play a huge role in preventing falls which is a common problem in older adults.

FLEXIBILITY: It helps a person in making their body more freely which makes easier for the person to reach down to tie their shoes or look over the shoulder when they back their car out of the driveway.

Minister Denzil Douglas stated that exercising keeps the person fit and healthy and prevent them from diseases in any or other way.