The Maltese: now ranked as the world’s most inactive people
Published:
August 9, 2012 at 5:12pm
The Lancet has published a study into the activity levels of the populations of 122 countries. Guess what? The Maltese are ranked as the world’s most inactive.
We’ve won something at last.
Coverage in The Daily Mail
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2183702/Britain-ranked-laziest-countries-world.html#ixzz233r5egGj
Kemm hu sabih dal-gens.
Kollu it-tort ta’ Gonzi. La jitla Joseph Muscat dan l-ghazz kollu jispicca.
Lin-nisa ta’ Little House of the Prairie ha jibda jibghthom il-gimm b’xejn flok joqghodu id-dar jilghabu farmville fuq fejsbukk.
Instructor joqghod hu biex aktar ihajjarhom.
What a load of crap.
So with Greece as the most active country, how come they’ve got these economic problems?
THe Maltese inactive? You see so many Maltese working hard in agriculture, construction and the like.
[Daphne – Yes, but those are by far the minority. You can tell by the shape of the rest that they’re seriously inactive.]
“You can tell by the shape of the rest that they’re seriously inactive.”
Yes. Tell it to Ricardo Blas Jr.
When I was still in primary and secondary school, every time we needed extra lectures they would take away the P.E. slots…and even better the classical ‘break in’ punishment.
Primary and secondary schools of my generation basically hinted that physical education should come second to academic work, when they should be at par. At least they used to take us for Sunday hikes and nature walks at catechism, better than nothing!
This is no supriise considering that even our governmenti is inactive for two whole months this summer.
We follow the example given to us by the country’s leaders.
After all they haven’t much to do since Brussels does it all for them. All they do is follow directives.
Statements of this type always make me smile.
Incidentally, do they mean inactive as in “not working” or do they mean it as in “do not take part in sports”?
And not one of the ‘inactive’ , however defined, will be embarrassed.
How right you are Pat. I am 52, and do not partake in any sports activities, except for a walk along my seafront.
However, at my place of work I hardly make use of the elevator to go up two or three floors. (At least 30 times a day to deal with customers and staff). No wonder I go through two pairs of shoes a year and arrive home with aching feet.
Yet my specailst tells me that I need more exercise….go figure that as I don’t believe I am that overweight at 172cm weighing 74 kgs.
Considering how very ‘active’ our Franco is, there must be a flaw in this this study.
I’ve been recently getting wound up about this myself. As a nation we have a severe lack of education into how to take care of ourselves both nutrition and physical activity wise.
Speaking for myself, I think it’s shameful that in primary and secondary school I only had one 40 minute Physical Education lesson every two weeks (if that!). All we did during those 40 minutes was play the same stupid games and never learnt anything new.
Apart from nutrition and physical activity, a physical education lesson should cover the dangers of drugs, smoking, drinking, drinking and driving, proper health and safety etc. After all, in the end this would result in less people who are in Mater Dei for preventable illnesses and injuries and supposedly smaller national health costs.
Isn’t moaning considered an activity?
These blogs don’t help.
“The Maltese are spending too much time reading Daphne’s blogs.”
But we find time to send our children to 3 to 5 hours of Muzew per week.
I can think of a few reasons the Maltese are inactive. I have not yet set foot on an Arriva bus so I cannot comment but I do remember the rickety old buses and the overall service was so inefficient that you can’t really blame the Maltese for getting a car instead of using public transport.
Secondly, the summer heat does not help. It is much easier to pile on layers to insulate from cold and burn calories in freezing weather than to sweat it out walking in unbearably hot temperatures.
Thirdly it is much more difficult to be active if you are overweight and the traditional Maltese fare is conducive to nothing but diabetes and a host of other diseases.
Fourthly the Maltese are largely ignorant about good nutrition and fitness. Take our portion sizes. It is a struggle to reduce them, once you’ve been a lifetime being force fed by over zealous Maltese mothers.
Just as the English do not have a builder’s breakfast every day, neither should the Maltese consume quantities of Maltese bread and pasta daily.
In most cities there is the option of eating out and not cooking for working people. You have options that include healthy salads (thinking ITSU in London here) and sushi. In Malta the standard lunch hour fare is a baguette/wrap/pasta. If you order a salad you have to specify that you don’t want any dressing.
Lastly, how do you expect to raise fit and healthy children, if as pointed above, Muzew classes, private lessons and the lot take priority, leaving children little time for sports.
The Mediterranean pysique is not lean and mean by genetic heritage, so we are already at a disadvantage compared to Northern countries.
Massive educational campaign needed.
.
Isa, irbahna xi haga.
One could argue that laziness is a sign of freedom, but of course one knows better…
Perhaps we’re too busy to be active?
In any case, we outranked our former masters by seven notches. That, in itself, is a great achievement. The Brits teach by example, and it works.
Kevvy, I can just about imagine your muscular, well-toned. pear-shaped. sweaty body as you bend over that sink to tackle another load of dishes.
Trying to laugh away your love handles, Kevin?
Actually, Baxxter, the too-busy-to-be-active bit is all me – which explains why I’m not as skeletal as you are, but not as pot-bellied as Purdie.
Purdie, why not find yourself a nice mermaid which you can scale down to purpose?
Wow. A lame attempt at wit. You don’t do wit well, Kevvy.
We’ve all been there, Kevin. Just cut down on the useless calories and go for a run around the Parc de Bruxelles each morning, and you’ll be grating cheese on your abs in no time at all.
Of course you won’t be eating that cheese since it’s just solidified fat, but it’s a good dinner party trick.
No, Purdie, rather not, especially witty toilet jokes like yours – which I’ve missed ever since you adapted your talent to dishwashing wit.
***
Parc de Bruxelles, eh? Each morning! No, Baxxter, I’m a sane person.
That was in The Economist too. 72% of Maltese adults don’t get the basic amount of exercise, which to me means they don’t work since all it takes is a couple of flights of stairs and walk.
These people must spend their whole day sitting on their back sides doing nothing.
No. It takes more than a couple of flights of stairs and walking round the office. You need at least 30 minutes of cardio per day, and that means raising your heart rate above 55% of its maximum and keeping it there throughout your exercise. The average Maltese office is designed to make you obese.
A couple of months ago there was a piece in The Times, all fawning admiration and ill-concealed hero-worship, about this Italian EU Representation employee who commutes to work from Birgu to Valletta in his inflatable kayak. The Times missed the essential point: he showers soon as he arrives in the office.
Hands up all those with a shower in their office building.
I’m going back to bed.
Well some people can’t do exercise in this weather.
Summer lethargy gets me every single year.
Joe Grima outweighed the rest of the country. It’s not fair.
Ghall-ghazz niehdu l-ewwel – prosit lil kulhadd!