The truth will set you free – or so it’s often claimed. Thus armed, I duly undertook my own reality check last week, when I finally summoned the courage to weigh myself on our bathroom scales.
Now approaching the age of 60, when everything is heading south except my hairline, I’ve been trying to acquire a more nuanced and mature attitude to both food and exercise than was once the case.
“Eat less, do more” is my maxim; and in truth I’ve dropped nearly two shirt sizes in the process – as well as and having to punch a new hole in my trouser belt.
So far so good, yet I know from bitter personal experience that even the most diligent fitness regime can be derailed by the Christmas celebrations here in the United Kingdom – a period when it’s all too easy to pile on the kilograms, as is often the case in the UAE during Ramadan and Eid.
Well, last Wednesday it was time to see how I’d fared after three days of overindulgence, which is presumably why Public Health England, the government authority charged with monitoring the nation’s well-being, also used this date to publish its own findings.
Titled The Middle-Aged Health Crisis, the report makes for shocking reading. According to its claims, eight out of 10 people in Britain between the ages of 40 and 60 are now either overweight or getting too little exercise. They – we – have been dubbed "the sandwich generation" – people who graze throughout the day while perpetually on the move, grabbing whatever comes to hand as we multi-task our way through our waking hours.
The spectres gathering around this particular feast would be enough to put anyone off their food – namely heart attacks, strokes and arthritis – but now another is joining their number: type 2 diabetes. This condition, directly linked to diet and weight, was relatively rare in the UK until a few decades ago, yet now threatens to become an epidemic, largely due to our increasingly supine lifestyle. It is, of course, a similar story in the UAE.
Desk jobs, caring for youngsters or ailing parents, and too much time spent driving when we should be walking, have all contributed to obesity rates shooting up by 16 per cent in the past two decades.
The ramifications are staggering. Type 2 diabetes now costs the overstretched National Health Service £14 billion (Dh63.5bn) per year. That’s £1.5 million per hour, or 10 per cent of the organisation’s entire annual budget. And it’s only going to get worse, with 4 million people likely to be affected by 2025.
As a help to us all, Public Health England, part of the UK health department, has come up with a nifty little online survey designed to both educate us and exhort us to turn over a new leaf in 2017 – especially if it’s of the lettuce variety. Called “How Are You?”, the free survey poses a number of questions about diet and lifestyle, at the end of which a rough calculation is made, and a few homilies offered up as to how we might improve our longevity. Though such was the clamour for the test on Wednesday night that when I tried to log on, I found it had crashed. As a metaphor for the state we’re in, it seemed entirely appropriate.
The UK government claims it is doing its best to nudge us all in the right direction, citing an expected tax hike on sugary drinks in the new year as proof of its concern. However, some experts are warning these measures don’t go nearly far enough.
The NHS is straining at the seams to cope with the huge demand placed on it by an unfit population – but the fact is that it would be so simple to ease this colossal burden if we each took a little more personal responsibility and throttled back a bit.
Never mind diabetes, many hip operations, complex heart transplants and costly prescription drugs would be rendered unnecessary, if only we’d all eat a little less and walk a little more.
The truth may indeed set you free, but sadly for many, ignorance is still bliss.
Michael Simkins is an actor and writer in London
On Twitter: @michael_simkins
