Let’s prolong our lives – President Mahama

President John Dramani Mahama at the weekend appealed to Ghanaians to engage in all forms of body exercises at all times to help prolong their lifespan.

He said daily exercises would help prevent  and avoid diseases such as diabetes, coronary heart diseases and hypertension.

He stressed: “Diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and coronary heart diseases are acquired from lifestyles and not through infection and there is therefore the need to constantly exercise to avoid them to live much longer.”

President Mahama made the appeal when he joined the EL-WAK Keep Fit Club to undertake a 15-kilometre walk from EL-WAK stadium, Pig Farm, through Accra Newtown to Maamobi, Nima, 37 Military Hospital and back to the EL-WAK Sports stadium.

With the President are: Mr Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, Minister of Youth and Sports, Mr Inusah Fusieni, Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Dr Mustapha Ahmed, Minister of State, Mr Julius Debrah, Greater Accra Regional Minister, Mr Mohammed Alhassan, Inspector General of Police and Mr John Jinapor, Deputy Minister of Energy and Petroleum.

President Mahama who completed the four-hour  48  minutes walk noted that in the past diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and heart diseases were not common because people engaged in activities such as farming, hunting and canoe paddling as compared to the office work that people spend more hours  doing now.

He called for sustainable programmes that could help people in exercising almost on daily basis to keep the body in good shape and healthy.

“We do not need to wait for holidays before we can exercise our bodies, walking for just 30 minutes a day is enough for us to keep our bodies fit at all times,” he added.

He commended the organisers and sponsors for their feat and encouraged other keep fit clubs to step up their activities to whip up the enthusiasm of more Ghanaians to exercise.

Source: GNA