Don’t mistake sex for exercise

Don’t mistake sex for exercise.

This was the advice given by top endocrinologists and health experts as they called on Filipinos to exercise regularly as a good way of staying in shape and avoiding obesity.

"You should not mistake sex for exercise. (A bout of sex) is only equivalent to climbing up one flight of stairs," said Dr. Ramon Abarquez, an endocrinologist of the Makati Medical Center, in a health forum at the Annabel’s restaurant in Quezon City the other day.

Abarquez, along with other endocrinologists and health experts, stressed the need for regular exercise as they noted the rising problem of obesity – a condition wherein one has excess body fat mass – which the World Health Organization (WHO) has tagged as a global public health problem.

WHO saw the need to declare obesity as a problem worthy of concern since obese people are more prone to diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, the number one global killer, such as hypertension.

In the Philippines, the number of overweight or obese people is increasing and people suffering from hypertension and diabetes are also on the rise, according to health authorities.

A 2001 survey conducted by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) to map the nutrition health of Filipinos showed that 20.2 percent were overweight, a marked increase from the 16.3 percent recorded in 1993 similar survey.

Health experts stressed that obesity is largely caused by the unhealthy lifestyle of an individual, thus the need to observe a healthy diet and exercise regularly.

A healthy diet, they said, includes lots of vegetables and fruits and less of foods rich in fat and carbohydrates. Regular exercise is vital since physical activity helps burn off excess calories and fat, they added.