UAE | Health
Fitness craze: Filipinos on top
Asian community scores high on physical exercise, reveals a Dubai survey
- By Sharmila Dhal, Senior Reporter
- Published: 00:00 July 7, 2011
- Image Credit: Supplied
- Image for illustrative purpose only.
Dubai: Filipinos are on top of the game when it comes to exercising in Dubai, an official survey of 5,000 households released on Wednesday has revealed.
The Dubai Household Health Survey was conducted by Dubai Health Authority (DHA) and Dubai Statistics Centre in 2009. Dr Eldaw Abdullah Sulaiman, Head of Research and Performance Management at DHA's Health Policy and Strategy Sector, said 31.6 per cent of Filipinos in Dubai exercise to stay healthy, followed by 27.9 per cent of Westerners - from Europe, North America and Australasia - and 27.3 per cent of Arab expatriates.
While Emiratis came fourth at 19.3 per cent, Indians and other Asians lagged behind at 17.8 and 15.5 per cent. Overall, only 19.3 per cent of Dubai's population reported at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise, 15 minutes of rigorous exercise or a combination of both for an average of five days a week.
Gender-wise, Western men are ahead of the pack at 27.8 per cent while Filipina women top the charts at 40.6 per cent. In general, fewer men (17 per cent) exercise compared to women (25 per cent). Exercise levels were also found to decrease significantly with age in both sexes but especially in women. Less than nine per cent of women over 60 years do enough exercise to keep themselves healthy.
"The preliminary survey serves as baseline evidence to develop further studies and plan policy for the management of lifestyle diseases like diabetes, heart disease and strokes," said Dr Sulaiman but clarified that it did not study the correlation between the amount of exercise and fitness levels of respondents.
While there was no significant relationship between income and exercise, the survey found a strong correlation with the education level of respondents. The more educated a person, the more likely he/she is to do enough exercise to keep healthy, said Dr Sulaiman, adding that the survey of 5,000 households elicited a 98 per cent response.
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