This week, governments are emphasizing the importance of staying healthy and active. Seniors in New Brunswick, Canada are celebrating Active Living Week for Seniors by learning about making healthier life choices. The Senior and Healthy Aging Secretariat is distributing information sheets about many key elements of total health, including mental health, dental health (did you catch that rhyme?), exercise, balanced diet, living tobacco-free, and more.
“When seniors are healthy and active, they live longer and stronger,” said Sue Stultz, New Brunswick’s Social Development Minister.
Concurrently, the United Kingdom is in the midst of National Healthy Living Week, with a focus on diabetes.
“As a type 2 diabetic myself, it’s an issue close to my heart,” said Jeff Cuthburt, chair of the National Assembly’s group on healthy living. “Adopting a healthier lifestyle has been essential in helping me to manage my condition and live as normal a life as possible.”
Cuthburt reports that one in 20 residents in Wales has been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, a common ailment for seniors. He encourages people to pay attention to their risk factors, analyze their lifestyles and make changes for the better, since diabetes is reasonably preventable if the appropriate measures are taken in a timely fashion. He notes that pharmacies in Wales have begun to offer free diabetes risk screenings-this goes a long way in the fight to decrease the prevalence of diabetes.
