NGO stresses importance of physical exercise

No fewer than 5,000 Muslims  took time off last weekend to take part in an annual physical exercise tagged “Walk for Life” organised by the Human Concern Foundation International (HCFI), an arm of The Muslim Congress (TMC) which is a faith based organisation in Lagos.

The exercise, which is the fourth in the series of the annual event, saw participants trekking from Jibowu Bus stop in Yaba through Maryland on Lagos-Ikorodu expressway and back to Jubowu, a distance of about five kilometres. Men of the Lagos State Traffic Management (LASMA) were on hand to guard the participants and control the traffic on the ever busy Lagos -Ikorodu expressway during the exercise.

Addressing participants after the trekking exercise, the Amir (President) of the TMC, Dr Lukman AbdurRaheem, implore Muslims and non-Muslims to take good care of their health because wellness is very important. AbdurRaheem, who is also a Senior Lecturer/Professional Mentor of Small Business Development at the Yaba College of Technology, Lagos, said that Allah loves a healthy Muslim than a weakling, “although both of them will have rewards with Almighty Allah”. “If you read Qur’an, you read the Hadith, you’ll see facts that support what we are doing today. “The noble Prophet Mohammad (SAW) is a sportsman and he encouraged all his companions to be fit, to take good care of their wellness.

“In fact he said that Allah loves a healthy Muslim than a weakling, although both of them will have rewards with Almighty Allah. “The implication of this is that if you are not healthy, you will not be able to fulfil your religious and social responsibilities; you won’t be able to perform salat, you won’t be able to go on hajj.

“What we have don today, if you do it regularly and you go on hajj, you; be able to perform all hajj rites. “But you are not somebody who is strong in mind and in body, you’ll not be able to perform hajj. And also beyond salat, beyond fasting, beyond hajj, we have what we all community development, which Muslims are expected to carry out. “And if you are not healthy, you will not be able to carry out you community assignments like traffic control, going to prison, going to hospitals and so on. “So we want to implore Muslims and non-Muslims to take good care of our wealth because wellness is very important. “If you are wealthy and you are not healthy, your money will disappear and that is why when you have health, you have wealth. “On this note I want to encourage us, from time to time, to take it as a habit to do what we called “Walk for life’’. “Even if you have your car, at times, put your car at home and walk two kilometres, three kilometres, it makes you healthy. Earlier, the Chairman of the HCFI, Dr Ibrahim Oreagba, expressed appreciation to all Muslims who turned out to take part in the annual physical exercise.

“Again, we want to appreciate you all for taking time out to come and exercise all parts of your body. “The Human Concern Foundation International (HCFI) is a non-governmental organisation that is dully registered and it is concern with wellness of the people, it is concern with good health of the people.

HCFI is concern with the human dignity and therefore, one of the annual programmes of HCFI is the annual “Walk for Life’’ event. This is the fourth in the series of Walk for Life and we want to say today’s walk for life programme is most successful out of all the four because we have record turnout of people. Also speaking on the importance of regular physical exercise, an Epidemiologist with the Lagos State Ministry of Health, Dr Ismail AbdusSalam, said regular physical exercise promotes sexual performance in male and female. Dr Ismail AbdusSalam, an Epidemiologist and Consultant Public Health Physician with the Lagos State Ministry of Health. AbdusSalam, who is also a Consultant Public Health Physician, said “this is because regular exercises have a lot to do with production of testosterones in male’’. “It has been documented that when you perform regular exercise, it also promotes your sexual performance as male and as female, because these regular exercises have a lot to do with production of testosterones in male. “And also in female, it has been found that this regular exercise promotes the sex drive and also the ability of that person to actually have sex satisfaction. “Aside that, regular exercises also solve sleep problems that some people do have. “So, in all, regular exercise promote health, increase the flow of blood, solves sleep problem and aside that, so many other diseases are prevented. “And also, it has been found to also solve the issue of mood problems. The consultant, who is also one of the Board of Directoras of HCFI, further linked the importance of regular exercise to improvement in the nation’s economic productivity.

“Definitely, the productive segment of the population; if they are very active; if they are physically fit; it is going to prevent sickness absenteeism from work and it’s going to increase productivity. “Because the more you have your workforce being present at work, it increases the productivity of those people and increases our economic drive. “So our economic is going to be boosted when you have people who are working, who are physically fit, especially the productive segment. “And the elderly too, it (exercise) has been found to be useful for the elderly because they age actively when you do exercises, there are a lot of diseases that are going to be prevented. “You know that for elderly, when you grow old, your arteries harden and when they harden, they promote the formation of clot within the blood which can pre-dispose to stroke. “So they avoid that. The issue of urinary incontinence; the issue of cancer; issue of respiratory problems, all these are solved with good regular exercises. “Regular is very important. If it is only 10 minutes or 20 minutes per day, look at it stretched over a week; that is almost 140 minutes. “And it has been found that exercises for as long as 150 minutes per week to improves the performance of the heart,” AbdsSalam said.

By Oluwashina Iyanda

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