(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Aspetar - Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital held a ceremony recently to honour the winners of a Ramadan competition organised as part of the 'Step into Health' (SIH) programme.
The ceremony was organised by Aspetar's Healthy Lifestyle Department and was attended by a number of participants and hospital officials.
The SIH initiative is part of Aspetar's Healthy Lifestyle Programme (HLP), which aims to promote the concept of holistic health change to engage the people of Qatar in a self-managed healthy lifestyle programme based on a moderate amount of daily physical activity.
Through a non-competitive, recreational and social approach, it encourages each member to walk 10,000 steps a day. The multi-interventions programme helps individuals set personalised targets for physical activity and nutrition, and makes it possible for them to monitor their performance using an online application.
The Ramadan-specific activity encouraged SIH members to maintain their healthy lifestyle habits during the holy month, as it is a time of the year when many people adopt less healthy eating habits. The Aspire Dome was open for SIH members as a walking venue every day throughout Ramadan.
Winners were selected at random from three categories, with the main criterion being that an average of 10,000 steps a day had to have been completed. The three different categories were Aspire Dome walkers who averaged 10,000 steps a day during Ramadan; SIH members who averaged 10,000 steps a day during the holy month; and SIH members who averaged 10,000 steps a day over the past 12 months.
Abdulla Saeed al-Mohannadi, a health promotion researcher at Aspetar said: "Aspetar has an important role towards the local community. This involves encouraging the people of Qatar to follow healthy lifestyles through engaging the recommended daily amount of physical activity and balanced eating habits and promote use of Aspire Zone facilities, and the SIH programme is just one example of this."
"We are delighted with the huge number of participants in our Ramadan walking challenge, and even more so with the ever-increasing number of participants in the programme. This is proof that the local community is keen to pursue health and fitness, and we at Aspetar will continue to provide all necessary arrangements to continue making this happen," he added.
A combined total of 290,623,335 steps were taken by all SIH members during Ramadan, with approximately 257 members averaging 10,000 steps or more a day. There are almost 45,000 members registered in the SIH programme. The programme includes health promotion campaigns that have been running in eight malls, 15 workplaces and 11 universities.
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