CELEBRATING WELLNESS: Carnival Ready Health Extravaganza

Celebrating Wellness is recognised annually as part of Caribbean Wellness
Day and the ongoing ‘Move More Bermuda’ campaign. This is our 11
th year of Celebrating Wellness in Bermuda . . . promoting healthy lifestyles
through healthy eating and active living.

 

This event is geared towards increasing awareness and promoting
measures to address the epidemic of Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs),
which continue to severely impact Bermuda’s health, economy and
development.

Celebrating Wellness aims to encourage adults, youth and children to
exercise regularly which will, lead to a healthy lifestyle. Todays activities
are designed to highlight several simple lifestyle changes people can make
to do so.

Let me provide an overview of our community’s health and wellbeing, pre-
pandemic:

 We have the third-highest incidence rate of diabetes in the Organisation
for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), with over 13% of
residents diagnosed

 50% of residents have at least one chronic condition such as diabetes,
heart or kidney disease

 1 in 3 residents has high blood pressure and/or high cholesterol, and

 75% of adults are overweight or obese
Many of these diseases are strongly related to lifestyle factors such as poor
diet, physical inactivity and smoking.

In the Bermuda Health Strategy 2020-2027 strategic principle, the main
priority is promoting healthy living and preventative care.

Health promotion and prevention is widely recognised as an essential
requirement for building a stronger health system.

We want to empower the community to lead healthy lifestyles by enabling
people to better develop self-control and improve their health.

Events like Celebrating Wellness increase public awareness of health
determinants such as diet and exercise, and encourage the adoption of
healthier lifestyles to promote wellbeing through strengthened and collaborative health promotion activities.

Simple actions like increasing our intake of local produce, reading labels of
processed foods to make informed decisions, and scheduling regular
exercise will drastically improve our health and quality of life.

Whether persons are striving to be carnival ready (Bermuda Carnival) or
striving to reach their optimal quality of life, they must commit to change
and make healthy choices to care for the whole body.

We continue to focus on four areas of health and encourage the public to
commit to change by:
 Moving more
 Eating more vegetables
 Drinking more water, and
 Be mindful of Mental wellbeing
We want to thank all of the organisations taking part, including Furbert’s
Vertical Gardening, Bermuda Diabetes Association, Mid-Atlantic Wellness
Institute, Bermuda Jump Rope Federation, Bermuda Gymnastics
Association, Bermuda Red Cross Association and many more.

Thanks also to our organisers, the Health Promotion and Wellness Office
and the Health Promotion Committee at The Department of Health.

The Ministry of Health hopes that events like this one today will be the
starting point to stimulate a new level of interest in health and wellbeing.
We encourage everyone to visit the various booths, try out the various
activities available, and have a good time Celebrating Wellness!

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