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Game for the Dubai Fitness Challenge?

We are victims of sedentary lifestyles and poor eating habits still waiting for the wake up call for a fuller, healthier life. Excess existence over lively moderation is what marketing gurus throw at us. We are turning eager consumers and less of movers as we pay a heavy price with our health, our most valuable asset. Caught in the middle of the cacophony and information overload, we spend little time on how we feel and how our bodies respond to the strains and pressures of life. How often do we ask ourselves: what's life with all the money in the world when our bodies are creaking and resisting our excesses earlier than they should? Why, we don't even step out into the rich sunshine that bathes the UAE for most part of the year and are turning out to be Vitamin D deficient, soon to realise we are aided by brittle bones and weakened muscles that we failed to exercise. Let's face the facts: 66 per cent of UAE residents are considered overweight, according to the World Health Organization. This is causing a strain on the health system which is busy treating increasing cases of diseases which could have been prevented in the first place.
The situation may be grim but the leadership is not giving up on communal health. The focus is not on treatment but on prevention of common ailments by encouraging us to move around. Do something, anything with your limbs. Walk, run, cycle, stretch, dance, play sport, was the idea when Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, began the Dubai Fitness Challenge last year. Many thought it would be a one-off event but Sheikh Hamdan, a fitness freak himself, wants to push the limits this year. Thirty minutes of movement every day for 30 days is something anyone can do from October 19 to November 17. Last year, 786,000 took part, this year a million people are expected to join the event, which organisers are calling a fitness festival. For the millions of residents in Dubai, the city moves them in different ways. Dubai Fitness Challenge could result in tired limbs but will also be a source of encouragement for lazy bodies to put some muscle into it. Who knows, it could even save many lives.