Growing number of "quality" fitness clubs offer Czechs greater variety of choices
14.7.2006 - Jan Velinger

For many Czechs - told all too often they smoke, drink, and or eat far too unhealthily - there is another option: to take their life into their own hands and get in shape. Getting exercise in the Czech Republic has never been easier, with an increasing number of modern and well-equipped fitness centres offering more choice and better services. Since the late 90s a centres operated by either by Czech-run or by internationally-owned companies have transformed the fitness landscape - especially in Prague - offering locals more opportunities than ever to keep in trim. Jan Velinger has details.

Despite not having the best of reputations regarding drink and diet - a good number of Czechs do live healthily and exercise regularly. Keeping fit is important for many, whether they get on a bike, hike, or ski. And although some might still prefer grabbing a beer on a sunny day rather than rollerblading in the park, the situation is changing and changing fast.

That's partly because a number of operators on the Czech market have opened newer and more sophisticated fitness centres than were found here before. Now Czech gym-goers can enjoy more than just aerobics or weight-training, but also yoga, boxing, swimming, and the martial arts. There's also indoor cycling: just a few years ago Roman Dockal was one of only a few "spinning" instructors:

"I used to teach aerobics but then I found out about spinning. I was one of the first of around 40 instructors who got initial training in Brno. Since then I've seen spinning become extremely popular, and it has to do with greater changes in general: more clubs and better services not only in Prague but throughout the Czech Republic. Spinning, aerobics, weight-lifting - all have seen amazing improvements and there are now more places than ever to really get pumped up."

Jan Hutnan, a professional trainer at a cross-town club agrees:

"If you have a demanding job, you need fitness to get through the day. Diet is equally important. Many people who are suffering from obesity and have reached an impasse are realising that they've got to change their life. They have our greatest respect. More and more, people are realising that fitness is not just a passing fad, it's a 'necessity'."

Improvements in fitness clubs were something noted by several of people I spoke with as they worked out:

"I'm happy with the situation. I work out 3-4 times per week. For me it's quite a big thing."

"I'm happy with my centre. It's one of the best. Are Czech men taking better care are of themselves? I hope so! And, it's going to get better and better."

"People are mostly searching for such places; they work 12 or 14 hours a day, then they come to that place: to communicate and have fun and train together."

Of course, aggressive and clever marketing have also played significant roles in gaining new customers. But new centres wouldn't have got far without offering "more". Often redesigned from former factories in fashionable parts of the city, the new clubs offer an "experience" - but they also offer important professional support - especially for those suffering from lifestyle illness. Petr Herzmann is a top manager at one of Prague's more popular fitness clubs:

"Entrepreneurs in fitness realised that it was not enough to just 'sell tickets' to the fitness centre but that they needed to offer customised programmes, consultancy, for people who need additional support."

So, where do we go from here? By most estimates fitness awareness in the Czech Republic will continue to go up. A centre can see an average of 1,500 to 2,000 visits per day and according to experts like Petr Herzmann, the market is far from saturated: in his view Czechs can expect more clubs in the coming years to open "just around the corner". That means anyone really wanting to improve their health will have even more opportunities to do so, and anyone who hasn't got off the living room couch yet will soon have no excuse!

Obesity in Poland
14.7.2006 - Michal Zajac

In traditional East European societies being overweight once symbolised wealth and success. In Poland, for instance, a fat child meant a healthy and happy child. Of course during the food shortages under communism getting fat was a bit of a challenge. But in the new free market reality, extra kilos are no longer a virtue. In Poland nearly twenty per cent of the population suffers from obesity. That's comparable with western societies but it's alarming when compared to the condition of Poles two generations back. Michal Zajac reports from Warsaw:

Watching your weight in front of the mirror is fast becoming a national craze in Poland. But more and more Poles don't stop there. They are becoming familiar with medical terms such as the Body Mass Index - which is a reliable indicator of total body fat, related to the risk of disease and death. Especially those who are part of the emerging middle class, visit nutritionists such as Doctor Magdalena Bialkowska of the Food and Nutrition Institute in Warsaw. She gives them warning signals when she thinks their weight problem is getting out of control.

"My weight is 100 kilos, height - 170cm. I divide 100 by 1.7 cross 1.7. The result is 34, this person is obese. 27 is putting on a yellow light. Among patients with BMI above 27 it is very easy to find diseases connected with obesity."

Apart from adversely affecting one's physical condition and self-esteem, obesity may lead to a number of other serious diseases. Heart problems, such as heart attacks, irregular heart rhythm or high blood pressure, are more common in adults who are obese, over 80% of people with diabetes are overweight or obese, the occurrence of certain types of cancer and arthritis is higher. Treatment requires changing the patient's lifestyle completely. Determination and motivation are the key to success. You are much more likely to succeed if you turn to others for help. Renata Sledziewska regularly attends meetings of the Weight Watchers support group.

"This is a kind of a group where you can discuss what you eat, or the problems that you have had. You discuss and share your experiences with other people: how can I cook with fewer calories, how can I eat to diversify my diet. The biggest problem for people who are trying to lose weight is discipline. These meetings help us to lose weight together and then share good solutions."

Poles' lifestyles have changed considerably over the past decades. They live faster, but don't exercise enough. 19% of Poles suffer from obesity and the figure has been changing steadily. Taking into account our rather passive lifestyle, to enjoy the good health of our grandparents we would have to cover the distance of a marathon every week, which translates into 6 kilometers a day. Needless to say, very few people do so. In addition, more and more frequently problems with obesity in Poland begin at a very young age. Dr Wadyslaw Grzeszczuk is worried that children are no longer interested in outdoor activities.

"Young people spend a lot of time in front of their computers, playing games and surfing the net, but this does not involve physical effort, hence there is no energy loss."

So, apart from eating less and moving more, what rules must we follow in our everyday life to stop putting on weight? Dr Magdalena Bialkowska:

"A very bad habit is to eat between meals. It is the first step to becoming overweight and then obesity. The second thing is too much fat. If I prepare dinner in a proper way, it will contain 400 calories. If I use extra fat or cream the calories can be tripled. We need to eat slowly. We should eat one meal over a period of 20 minutes because after 20 minutes we don't feel hunger."

And what is it that prevents most of us from following those simple tips?

"The problem is time, conviction and the style of living is very important. We don't move, we don't walk so we have to change our lifestyle. And this is what Weight Watchers is trying to teach us - move more, eat better. It's not eat less, it's eat better, and it's not just about losing weight for one month or two, because bad habits return fast."

Researchers are warning that each excessive kilogram shortens our life. Moreover, when one's improper eating habits are accompanied by a lack of physical exercise, the risk of early death rises by 57% in the case of women and 49% in the case of men. So if losing weight proves too difficult, the least we should do is not to allow ourselves to grow any fatter.

Anorexia - a disorder more common than we assume
14.7.2006 - Katarina Richterova

In Slovakia, women with the eating disorder weigh as little as 30 kilograms. They have little physical strength and their behavious is similar to drug addicts. Anorexia is on the increase in Slovakia and Katerina Richterova has been investigating:

A very interesting webpage I came across. You register to the online diet diary and every day write your daily menu into the page. All the food that you consumed is then reviewed by your "dietary" friends, who will either encourage you in your fight against high fat products, or will praise you for starving yourself on that day.

Browsing through the page, I clicked on the icon, "most successful members". The queen of all dieters is Sylvia who used to weigh 64 kg and has now gone down to some 38 kg. Is this success, or did something go wrong? Specialists call it eating disorder, an illness possible in the form of either anorexia or bulimia, or both at the same time. Peter Cernak, head of the psycho-somatic department in the Philip Fenol hospital, says the numbers of patients suffering from eating disorder is increasing.

"It's very alarming. I dare say this is one of the most serious problems within today's society. I remember that before 1989 a patient with mental anorexia or bulimia was an incredible rarity. And then all of a sudden, with the political, economic, social changes came also new role models that brought about many cases of mental anorexia, mainly with young girls."

... one of the negatives of capitalism. In 1996 there were just under 2000 patients treated for mental anorexia. In 2003 this number had more than doubled. But magazines are not the only reason for this sad trend, says Maria Vojtova, a youth counselor.

"I think that to a great extent, family and the atmosphere in society are the two key factors in anorexia. Families put great emphasis on how they are seen by the outside world, and problems are usually hidden. Certainly magazines influence young people. But this is where the well functioning family should come in. If it has a healthy approach to appearance and perfection, the child should not suffer from these social pressures."

... which, as Mrs. Vojtova says, are strong and extremely difficult to resist.

A short browse through some Slovak weekly magazines. A model on the cover ... and another model, well, all these magazines, widely read by teenage girls, provide the same picture. The young, rich, beautiful and skinny! What role models!

"This illness usually starts in the teenage years, so this is the most endangered age group. However, the illness gradually develops and becomes worse and more dangerous. At its worst it is usually found in women in their 20s, or 30s. Men and boys can also suffer from eating disorders, but very small numbers, not more than 1-2 percent, of all such patients are male."

Anorexia usually starts in the teenage years and can be spotted in a certain type of girls, says counsellor Vojtova that comes into contact with high school girls on a daily basis.

"It is usually girls that are diligent, extremely good students, striving for proficiency. Once they are not well prepared for school, for example they can get very anxious. Typical for these girls can also be isolation from their peers, or being shy."

0.2 - 0.8 percent of students at secondary schools have mental anorexia. That means that in every school there is at least one person suffering from anorexia.

"Schoolmates often notice that a girl is not eating properly and they are often the ones to let the parents know about the problem and to want the girl to be helped. I would say high school students today are well informed about eating disorders."

As shocking as it may sound, girls who suffer from anorexia are now even as young as 12 - 13. The most frequent reasons for turning anorexic is the strong desire to be attractive, popular and loved. Then there is peer pressure. And some girls want to be skinny to become models or actresses. These and many more reasons make girls start counting calories. Anna is a girl, who is a cured anorectic. Age - 14, height - 184, weight - 45 kg. She feels too fat. Now 10 years later and much wiser she looks back.

"I was fourteen years old and I was a basketball player and my father called me a fat girl and it wasn't true but I believed it. So I stopped eating and slept a lot. I was very weak and I was angry, sad, without interests and any passion."

Under the threat of needles and injections in her body Anna started to eat. Her healing process took only about nine months, however food and eating for her today is not carefree. She has to carefully choose food and eat only the healthiest products, eat regularly, watch out for the right amounts... and well, counting calories is on her mind with every bite she takes. What a story for my dietary friends on the net!

Cardio-vascular disease - why the thousands of unnecessary deaths?
14.7.2006 - Gyorgyi Jakobi

Cardio vascular diseases claim 50 thousand lives in Hungary every year. And experts believe that lifestyle factors - lack of exercise and poor diet - are making that figure much higher than it needs to be. Cardiologist, Dr Lajos Matos, is involved in a number of research projects into cardio-vascular disease. He told Gyorgy Jakobi about the main lifestyle factors leading to heart disease:

"Smoking is one of the main ones; then comes a high blood lipid level which is very frequent in Hungary; also we don't exercise enough and this is true for our children as well; and there is high blood pressure which is treated sometimes but in the majority of cases - not properly"

The government launched a programme to combat cardio vascular disease on March 20th. The new programme may please Dr. Matos as it aims at testing and treating all the illnesses which belong to the cardio vascular group together! Eating habits also play a leading role in developing cardio vascular disease.

"Eating habits - the Hungarian cuisine - are pretty dangerous. Our fat intake is very high, we are not taking enough olive oil and so forth, but we tend to eat meat which is very rich and which contains such fats that are not good for our vessels."

Eating healthily isn't that easy though - decade-long theories often collapse. One doesn't know if salt or coffee, for example, does or does not increase our blood pressure. While scientists continue to discuss the impact of salt or coffee on our heart and vessels, and Hungarians consume more than the average of both, they agree on something that may cause surprise.

"Coffee is not really increasing blood pressure but what is increasing blood pressure is coke! Even 3 or more cups of coffee a day does not increase blood pressure, but if one is drinking 3 or 4 glasses of coke per day that does increase blood pressure in the long run."

The implications are obviously most dangerous for children and not only because of the high blood pressure risk, but also because these drinks are a crucial factor in childhood obesity. That's why the Education Ministry's initiative to change fundamentally the offer of school canteens is important.

"Absolutely! This step is one of the most important steps in health care in Hungary in the last few decades because we should start in the schools, we should start with the children, and if the children are drinking fewer very high calorie drinks, cokes and so forth, if they are eating more vegetables and fruits, then it would be a big step and a very-very important step in the future and the health of the future generation."

Discussion about limiting the choice of sugary drinks, sweets and chips in school buffets is continuing among Education Ministry officials, the buffet managers and parents. Pupils will either accept healthier food or purchase their favourite snack in the nearby grocery store.

The relations between stress and back problems
14.7.2006 - Ksenija Samardzija-Matul

Our modern technology driven lives can be stressful. Many people choose to work long hours and neglect their physical well being. But there is a penalty to be paid for those long hours at the computer and in Slovenia working days have, for many, become longer and more stressful. Little wonder then that medical professionals are reporting an increase in serious back pain. Ksenija Samardzija Matul from Radio Slovenia International investigates the link between back pain and lifestyle:

Lifestyles have changed immensely over the past 20 years. Stress accompanies us on a daily basis and this is not only the case for adults but even children experience stress in schools. Stress and a lack of physical exercise have changed people's habits. Part of the problem is that today's lifestyle often includes long periods of sitting, at work, during the commute to and from work, at home watching TV or at the computer. And it's in this sitting position that poor postural habits tend to develop, like hunching over and slouching in the chair.

I visited Dr. Ivica Flis Smaka a specialist for physical medicine and rehabilitation and asked her where she sees the major problems of modern lifestyle and the consequences on our health:

"The trouble of a modern lifestyle is not only sitting a lot and little exercise but it is a complex issue, a wrong kind of lifestyle and also an unhealthy relationship towards other things. There are long tiresome working days and there is no balance - the upper torso is burdened the most and so are the head and shoulders. Of course hours and hours of sitting in one position and the wrong eating habits cause problems and we are not out enough in fresh air, not enough time is left for recreation and relaxation and of course we are also not well organized."

However it is hard to find the right balance. Our working days often end between 6 and 7 in the evening and in between there is usually not enough time for a proper lunch and this again causes stress. According to Dr. Flis Smaka Regular exercise three to four times a week for 60 minutes is recommended and this is not only good physical exercise but also good for our psyche where we can get rid of all the load that has accumulated. Long working hours and no physical exercise can have very unpleasant consequences, Dr. Flis Smaka:

"This wrong kind of lifestyle leads to the quicker wearing out of the motor system: there are problems in the neck area, the chest, the hip, knees and feet. Sitting in front of the computer in one position, e.g. causes pain below the breastbone and people often think that this pain is related to the heart. There are a lot of neck syndromes with heavy pain and cramps in the shoulder area with strong headache and all this is actually caused in the shoulder area."

These health problems start in childhood. According to Dr. Flis Smaka children resemble their parents in their habits:

"They are used to going to school by car, they are used to sitting in front of the TV or computer for most of their time and they rarely read. They need a lot of motivation and even pressure just to get them to engage in physical activity in general because they are not used to it. It is a fact that not only problems of the motor system occur but also scoliosis, flat-feet and damaged hips and knees. These children weigh far too much and this again causes bad habits. Parents should serve as a role model for their children."

Many spas, medical and recreational centres in Slovenia see that there is a necessity in offering programmes to help patients with back problems. I went to of the medical-recreational centres in Maribor to see what they offer. The head of Sales Doris Urbancic introduced the most popular programmes:

"We have special exercise programmes for the back. This programme is carried out in the gym as well as in the pool."

Doris Urbancic confirmed that many young people need treatment and take part in their programme to relieve pain and prevent it from worsening in the future:

"The problems sometimes start in school; children already have these problems and I think they often don't realize what kind of problems they could have if they failed to exercise during their growth. The people that come are from 16 to 60 years old, or more, but the majority that come are aged between 30 and 60."

Very popular are also various wellness programmes for men and women that help people relax and forget about stress. Prevention is better than cure and this is why several so-called manager programmes are frequently booked. The number of visitors coming for a thorough medical examination is rising. Although it is called a "manager programme" this examination is available for all those who feel stressed out, Doris Urbancic explains:

"We have three kinds of manager programmes: a basic medical examination for managers, the basic preventive medical examination, and the extended preventive manager programmes. All kinds of people go through these check ups, those having stress during the workday but also managers in middle management; the majority of them are aged between 30 and 50 years. Also older people come."

Until people fundamentally change their lifestyle there will continue to be plenty of work for doctors like Ivica Flis Smaka.