In December, Bill Clinton shocks the people of Dundalk by asking if anyone knows Andrea Corr's home phone number . . . If you eat or drink too much, or smoke, you are probably over-indulging a bit to compensate for your coming life of austerity. And in all this you are, we feel confident, set on making your contribution to the implementation of the Health Promotion Strategy, one of the most important documents published in 2000 by the Department of Health and Children. It is important because it points out that many of our health problems are due, not to waiting lists or shortages of nurses, but to the unhealthy way in which we live. Our life expectancy is low compared to other EU countries.
Women can expect about four years more than men.
Some clues as to why this is so can be found in work carried out by the Centre for Health Promotion Studies at NUI-Galway. The centre has been watching the lifestyle of the nation for some time and its results are the basis for the Health Promotion Strategy. What its findings make clear is that we are a long way from being a healthy nation. Young people exercise less and less when they get into their teens. Only 42 per cent of adults exercise regularly.