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Take a bow Australia.
You’ve just been announced as the seventh healthiest country in the world, and we’re one of only a few English-speaking countries to make it (although given how multicultural we are, that’s a moot point). Our Spanish friends took the top honour, replacing Italy (now in second spot). Iceland got the bronze medal. It’s not just our ability to smash out burpees in the pre-dawn, or our love of a run along the beach – Medicare and access to health care for all, hospital services and acute illness care are a major factor, as is the decline in tobacco usage across our fair country. Our air and water are clean, our toilets flush and while we take these for granted, they play a huge role in keeping the population healthy. Because we’re competitive, we need to know how to move up the list. The way to get on the dais is to control the big lifestyle issue of obesity. And we do that through eating better and moving more. Let’s not all make drastic changes all at once. Add a side salad to your meal, try the bun-less burger option, swap the arvo snack for a piece of fruit. Little changes. They add up. The same goes for exercise. Start incorporating more movement in your daily life. Take a flight of stairs instead of the elevator. Work on the 8th floor? Get off on level 6 and walk the rest. Start by walking downstairs first and build up to the uphill slog. Stick a podcast in your ears and walk to work, or at least to the next suburb and get the bus from there. Destress from work with a hit of tennis, or strap on the boxing gloves. You don’t have to excel at everything you do, the key is to move a bit more than you did yesterday. And if you’re wondering who’s ahead of us and who to beat, here’s the list. The good news is that we beat the kiwis at something! 1: Spain 2: Italy 3: Iceland 4: Japan 5: Switzerland 6: Sweden 7: Australia 8: Singapore 9: Norway 10: Israel Read more in The New Daily's article here
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