Be Active for Health
Date Added: 21 July 2020, 09:50
Last Updated Date:03 November 2020, 13:19
Expressing that World health Organization (WHO) realizes various activities to support the implementation of the rigorous processes regarding the Global Action Plan on Physical Activity that designed not only to create global awareness and defend the benefits of physical activity but also to draw attention to the crucial role of the physical activity in preventing the diseases, Assistant Professor Pembe Hare Yiğitoğlu Çeto, Specialist Doctor at the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation of Near East University Hospital, highlights that engaging in regular physical activity and decreasing sedentary behavior are protective lifestyle behaviors against several non-communicable diseases and mental disorders. Stating that the purpose of these organized rigorous processes should not be just pointing out the importance of physical activity, Asst. Prof. Dr. Pembe Hare Yiğitoğlu Çeto underlines that it is necessary to ensure a society adopting healthy life style.

One in four people worldwide are physically inactive!
Stating that the number of people with sedentary behavior has increased in our days in line with technological developments, Assistant Professor Dr. Pembe Hare Yiğitoğlu Çeto highlights that children and adolescents spend a considerable amount of time without doing any physical activity by either using internet and watching television or studying. Expressing that one in four people worldwide are physically inactive, she underlines that sedentary behavior ranks the fourth place in the list of risk factors causing dead worldwide. She notes that sedentary behavior is an important risk factor for developing hypertension, coronary heart disease, stroke, diabetes, various types of cancer including breast cancer and colon cancer.

Asst. Prof. Dr. Pembe Hare Yiğitoğlu Çeto: "Engaging in moderate physical activities such as regular walking, cycling and swimming has significant beneficial impacts on health".
Expressing that physical activity is defined as any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that require energy expenditure; Asst. Prof. Dr. Pembe Hare Yiğitoğlu Çeto delivered further information: “The activities performed while working, playing, doing housework and in leisure time are considered as mild physical activity. Physical activities such as regular walking, cycling and swimming, which are defined as moderate activities, have significant beneficial effects on health. It is recommended that adult individuals need to engage in moderate endurance activities such as walking, jogging and swimming for 150 minutes a week, preferably 30 minutes for 5 days a week in order to gain and maintain their health. Besides, strength exercises that require the use of large muscle groups in different parts of the body should be done 2 days a week. This is important in terms of preventing and protecting the loss of bone and muscle tissues”.

Asst. Prof. Dr. Pembe Hare Yiğitoğlu Çeto: "Physical activity aims to ensure healthy aging and create more active elderly individuals".
Stating that regular and adequate levels of physical activity improve muscular strength, Asst. Prof. Dr. Pembe Hare Yiğitoğlu Çeto underlines that engaging in regular physical activity also improves endurance and cardiorespiratory fitness, improves bone and functional health. "Regular and adequate levels of physical activity improves bone mineral density and prevents osteoporosis. It also reduces the risk of hypertension, coronary heart disease, stroke, diabetes, various types of cancer including breast cancer and colon cancer, and depression, reduces the risk of falls causing hip or vertebral fractures. Engaging in physical activities is also fundamental to energy balance and weight control. Through physical activity, healthy aging is ensured and more active older individuals are aimed to be created” noted she.

Asst. Prof. Dr. Pembe Hare Yiğitoğlu Çeto:“Urban design and urban planning need to be in a way that facilitates physical activity”
Stating that a cultural approach that includes community-based but different areas should be developed in order to increase physical activity, Asst. Prof. Dr. Pembe Hare Yiğitoğlu Çeto highlights that increasing physical activity is not just an individual issue, adding that it requires a whole of society and culturally relevant approach and therefore it demands a collective effort to adopt healthy life style as a society. Expressing that urban design and urban planning need to be in a way that facilitates physical activity, she notes that urgent governmental policies supporting this fact need to be developed.