National Healthy Lifestyle Campaign 2005

24 Aug 2005

Introduction

The annual National Healthy Lifestyle Campaign is back this year with a bigger reach, and packed with fun-filled activities with mass appeal to get all Singaporeans to get up and get fit. The action has already started with 18 companies vying for the first ever "Workplace Fitness Icon" in the Singapore Funfit Challenge which rolled out on 19 August 2005. Our very own Singapore Idols, Taufik, Slyvester and Olinda will also lend their appeal to get people to quit smoking, eat healthily, exercise regularly and manage stress. Reaching out to both the able-bodied and disabled, this year's campaign will see more than 20,000 participants from all walks of life joining the Walk-a-Jog/Wheelathon 2005 at the Padang during their office hours.

The public can also have free health screenings, dental check ups and massages at the 3-day Health and Fitness Expo. Those who love to shop can also have the chance to take part in the first ever Amazing Healthy Shoppers Race. They can also make a pledge to adopt a healthy lifestyle and get a colourful health and fitness wrist band to show their commitment.

NHLC 2005 Theme

This year's campaign will be launched by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the Padang on 9th September. . The focus is on "Workplace Health Promotion" and the theme is aptly "Healthy WorkLife, Healthy Living." It aims to encourage all workplaces to create healthy work environments and provide sustainable health promotion programmes and services for their employees.

Although the recent National Health Survey 2004 reported an overall improvement in the health status of Singaporeans, it also showed that working adults aged between 30-49 years do the least exercise. We hope that this year's campaign will energise our corporate chieftains to introduce more workplace health activities for their employees. The workplace is an ideal setting for promoting health as 65% of Singaporeans over 15 years of age are in the workforce. Working people spend more than two-third of their waking hours at work.

Walk-A-Jog Cum Wheelathon

For the first time, NHLC has teamed up with Wheelathon, a fund-raising event by the Singapore Disability Sports Council (SDSC), to bring together both the able-bodied and disabled sports enthusiasts to make healthy living the way of life for all Singaporeans. You can choose to jog, run or skate in this fun walk-a-jog or Wheelathon route of 2.5km or 5km through the scenic Marina Promenade and Esplanade Drive.

A brand new "Healthy Twist" workout specially choreographed with workplace exercise tips will also make its debut before the walk-a-jog. 2 versions (basic and advanced) will be made available on the NHLC website for all Singaporeans to practice and adopt.

Singapore FunFit! Challenge and Other Workplace Health Activities

Following HPB's recent launch of "Fitness @ Work" programme, NHLC also launched the "Singapore FunFit! Challenge" from 20th August 2005 onwards - a competition for all workplace employees to choreograph a 3 to 6-minute physical exercise routine, be it fancy dance steps, power aerobics, creative callisthenics or whatever it takes to get the employees to move their body and have fun while keeping fit. The finalists will then get to showcase their talent and physical exercise routine during the NHLC launch on 9th Sept in front of 20,000 spectators. The champion workout routine will be awarded the title of "Workplace Fitness Icon" for all other workplaces to emulate.

In addition, the event will feature many other workplace health activities such as the Ultimate Corporate Challenge and the Step Up Singapore! Programme. The former, being an event during the NHLC Launch for workplaces to form teams of 4 to challenge themselves to a myriad of rowing, skipping and cycling activities, whereas the latter being a 6-month long programme launched by F&N Coca Cola to get workplace employees to monitor and increase their step counts through the stepometers by modifying their lifestyle practices. 3-day "Health and Fitness Expo".

A 3-day "Health and Fitness Expo" will be held from 9-11 September at different areas of the Suntec City Mall, focusing on promoting health and fitness to the general public. There will be stalls showcasing health and fitness-related products as well as various activities for the public to learn and adopt healthy lifestyle practices. The Expo will feature different themes from Health and Fitness to Traditional Chinese Medicine to Sports and Health and Healthy Lifestyle-related books. The expected turnout over the 3 days is over 100,000 people.

During the 3-days "Health and Fitness Expo", there will be other concurrent activities such as:-

1. The Health and Fitness Pledge Booths at the shopping malls around Suntec City Mall such as Raffles City, Citylink Mall, Millenia Walk, Marina Square and NLB @ Victoria Street. The pledge booths will encourage members of the public to pledge and lead a healthy lifestyle in return for a colourful health and fitness wrist band engraved with healthy lifestyle messages. Our target is 100,000 pledges over the 3-day period. 

2. Singapore's first ever "Amazing Healthy Shoppers Race" is an innovative and creative fringe activity to get members of the public and workplace employees excited about staying healthy while shopping and dining. 15 pairs of participants will have to race down the shopping malls to complete health and fitness-related challenges related to exercise, healthy eating, stress management and quitting smoking. This Race will be telecast over MediaCorp Channel 8 on 24 Sept and 01 Oct.

Again, with the support of Record Breakers Singapore, the event will endeavour to set two other Singapore records related to health and fitness - most number of health and fitness pledges (100,000) and most number of health/fitness/dental checks over the 3 days in a single health event (10,000). September - a month of trailblazing activities

The excitement does not end with the 3-day expo. In fact, a host of exciting health activities for the month of September has been lined up. They include:

1. Healthier food trail: There will be a half day trail to bring participants to the various hawker centres island-wide to sample healthier and tasty food.

2. International Halal Food Expo 2005: The Halal Food Expo 2005 is a public event to promote the consumption of local and international Halal Food. To promote healthy eating and healthy weight, there will be various activities such as exhibitions, games, quizzes, BMI measurement, distribution of health education materials and other stage activities like cooking demonstrations.

3. Obesity - Healthy Weight Healthy Shape: Health fair 2005 will be held in conjunction with national Heart Week and World Heart Day. The theme is Obesity - Healthy weight healthy shape. There will be interactive educational exhibits on physical activity and nutrition facts there will also be two BMI machines for the public to check their BMI. Not forgetting that there will also be live demonstrations on kebaya aerobics!

4. Please see the list of activities under the NHLC umbrella appended in Annex A.

Campaign Website and Signup Info

The public is welcome to get more information on the campaign website at www.healthylife.org.sg. The comprehensive website provides a one-stop portal to all the necessary details of the launch event, calendar of campaign activities, health advice and tools, exercise and nutrition. So what are you waiting for, sign up for the Walk-a-jog now!

Besides the website, there will also be sign-up booths for workplace employees to sign up for the Walk-a-jog cum Wheelathon at the following GUARDIAN outlets:-

• 30 Aug 2005 (Tues), 12-2pm: Suntec City Mall Level 2

• 31 Aug 2005 (Wed), 12-2pm: Raffles Xchange, Raffles Place MRT B1

• 1 Sept 2005 (Thurs), 12-2pm: City Link Mall, B1

In addition, interested participants can also sign up at the health mobile trucks that will be debuting on 2 Sept 2005 (Fri) till 8 Sept 2005 (Thurs) at the workplaces, mall areas, parks and reservoirs.

National Healthy Lifestyle Campaign 2005 Organising Committee

24 August 2005