Safety – Amenity – Access – Health

 

Att:  Justin Bianchini

Editor

Wanneroo Times

wannerootimes@communitynews.com.au

 

Darren to pound the pavement on
National Walk To Work Day – Friday 3 October 2008

 

‘By 2025, a total of 4.6 million Australians are projected to be obese’ ¹ - Don’t be one of them!

Local resident Darren Jones will be taking steps in the right direction on Friday 3 October, for National Walk to Work Day (WTWD). 

 

Darren said walking is such a simple activity, yet it seems the majority of Australians don’t do enough of it.  This is one of the key reasons that currently over half of the Australian population is overweight or obese.

 

“I run a small business in East Perth, Autorite Service Centre.  It’s not really feasible for our staff to walk to work, but we will be taking a break from being under cars, covered in grease and taking a walk in the area, then having a healthy morning tea.  National Walk to Work Day is the perfect time to stop making excuses, do something good for yourself and develop a new healthy habit of regular physical activity,” said Darren.

 

National Walk to Work Day is held annually to remind all Australians that regular physical activity such as walking is a great way to not only avoid obesity but also a range of illnesses including high blood pressure and cholesterol, diabetes, arthritis and cancer.

 

The facts speak for themselves.  Access Economics estimates that productivity losses due to obesity are at $3.6 billion and a further $2 billion in health costs, while the combined financial costs of the obesity related ‘big three’ is $19.5 billion dollars per annum. (Diabetes $3 billion; cardio vascular disease $13.1 billion; and cancers $3.4 billion).              Meanwhile, 23.8% of Type 2 diabetes and 21.3% of Cardio Vascular Disease is caused by obesity. Obesity and being overweight are also important causes of cancer, particularly cancers of the colon (11%), breast cancer in post-menopausal women (9%), uterus (39%), kidney (25%), oesophagus (37%) and gall bladder (24%)

 

Walking along with other therapies can also be used to overcome mild to moderate depression which accounts for three to four days off work per month for each person experiencing depression – the equivalent of more than six million working days per year in Australia². Undiagnosed depression costs $4.3 billion dollars in lost productivity annually³.

 

Darren said: “WTWD is truly an event for everyone – large or small workplaces, and individuals.  Our workplace is 100 per cent behind this campaign because like many other public and private organisations across Australia, we believe the benefits of encouraging people to get fit and healthy by walking more, far outweighs the costs.”

 

Darren reminds other local residents that every step counts towards better health and cleaner air.   Organisations and individuals can register for Walk to Work Day at www.walk.com.au .   There is no cost to register or participate.

 

For more information or to set up a photo shot of Darren walking in the East Perth area, in preparation for Walk to Work Day, please contact:

 

Karen Kerlin                                                              Darren Jones

PR Coordinator                                                         Manager

Walk to Work Day                                                     Autrorite Service Centre – 78 Parry St, East Perth

Phone 0414 443 964                                                  Phone 9227 6002

2 Andrews G, Hall W, Teesson M, and Henderson S. (1999). The Mental Health of Australians. Mental Health Branch, Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care.

3 Hilton, M. (2004). Assessing the financial return on investment of good management strategies and the WORC Project. The University of Queensland.