Once-fit PE folk are growing a boep again
Only Bloemfontein saves city from ‘super-slackers’ title
Port Elizabeth needs to step it up – the city is not as fit as it was five years ago.
While our politics have seemingly become an extreme sport, Port Elizabeth residents have dropped from the second-fittest in the country in 2013 to second last.
Only Bloemfontein stands between the city and the title of super-slackers.
According to a report compiled using data generated by Discovery’s Vitality programme, Port Elizabeth residents clocked 13.8-million gym visits – four million fewer than those in Cape Town – and had the second-worst score for residents taking more than 5,000 steps a day.
With just more than 700,000 participants in outdoor activities, the city also scored second from bottom.
Cape Town came out as the top scorer, with more than a million participants.
Figures are adjusted according to cities’ population sizes.
Bloemfontein performed the worst in these categories.
According to the latest District Health Barometer, Port Elizabeth’s population has rising rates of diabetes and hypertension.
Last year, the city was scored as the place in SA where the fewest people lost weight and also one of the worst for food choices.
Discovery Wellness head Dr Craig Nossel said the report combined data analytics, clinical knowledge and behavioural insights to provide unique views of South Africans’ physical activity habits.
“We hope these insights will help to mobilise individuals, groups and policymakers to create a healthier, safer and more active country,” he said.
Cardiologist and presidentelect of the SA Heart Association, Dr David Jankelow, said exercise was a “surprisingly simple antidote to the global tsunami of lifestyle-related illnesses”.
“It may in fact be more important than medicine when it comes to preventing and sustaining good health,” he said.
“I strongly believe in the prescription of physical activity and encourage all South Africans to get moving – even small steps will have a big impact on health outcomes.”
Former Herald Citizen of the Year, Zodwa Dube – who has been on a mission to get fit for summer – said it could be a problem of residents not “connecting” their fitness tracker.
“On September 12, after a whole hour of swimming like a boss, I discovered my heart rate monitor was not connected.”
Port Elizabeth comedian Roland Gaspar, who himself has been foraying into alternative fitness adventures like ballet and pole-dancing, said he had one question for the compilers of the report: “Does Discovery Vitality factor in the effort it takes to walk upright in a 60km/h wind?”
Port Elizabeth scored in the mid-range of places where motorists exhibit dangerous driving behaviour because they are using their cellphones.
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