Did you plan and research your vacations, household finances, car purchases, or buying a home?

In 1999 Statistics Canada reported that people
reaching age 65 in the year 2000 would live
an additional 17.9 years, on average.

     Have you planned to retire? Have you planned what you will do on an average Thursday during retirement? If you found a way to live additional years with fewer health problems, would you try it? How often do you walk to the store, take the stairs one flight, or rake the leaves?

Research suggests (Queen's Printer for Ontario, 1995)
that physical inactivity is as dangerous
to your health as smoking.

     Inactive living is one of four primary risk factors of coronary heart disease, and of these, it is the most prevalent. Individuals who are inactive face increased risk of premature death. The relative risk of premature death is 1:51 from inactivity, the same order of magnitude as that from cigarette smoking (1:76) and high blood pressure (1:73). The relative risk of premature death is twice as high from not being fit (3.4 for males to 4.7 for females)

However, inactivity is a modifiable risk factor.

      If you are currently inactive you are not alone, 2 out of 5 Ontarians are inactive (statistics Canada 2000). In Ontario, if the unfit became fit and the inactive became active, the decrease of premature death would be more than if the smokers quit smoking.

For optimal health benefits, Canadian adults need
30-60 minutes of physical activity every day.