The Lt. Governor’s Challenge
I want Delawareans to help me make the First State the Fit State.
I am encouraging all Delawareans to join me and increase the level of physical activity in their daily lives and get on the road to better health. And with the help of the American Cancer Society, Christiana Care, Delaware’s Division of Public Health, the University of Delaware and the State Chamber of Commerce, I’m giving everyone a fun, easy way to do it.
The Lt. Governor’s Challenge is a program designed to get people to increase their level of physical activity. It’s another tool to help Governor Minner’s effort to make Delaware a healthier, more livable place. And it addresses a fundamental goal for physical fitness outlined in the Healthy Delaware 2010 report released last year.
Recently we kicked off the Challenge with a five-stop, statewide tour that took us from Laurel, through Rehoboth, Dover and Middletown and to the Wilmington Riverfront. The response was overwhelming. The hundreds of people who signed up to take the Challenge made a commitment to make their lives better by doing something easy for 30 minutes or more each day.
The program is simple: Use a Lt. Governor’s Challenge logbook to keep track of your daily fitness activities, use the point values assigned to different activities in the book and add up your point total at the end of three months. I’ll send you a gold, silver or bronze medal based on how many points you earn.
The real payoff is far more valuable than a medal, though. The real reward is a healthier, better quality of life that is more likely to be free of chronic diseases.
The correlation between inactivity and disease is undeniable. Study after study has shown one thing: Physical activity lowers the risk of getting the chronic diseases that kill the most – heart disease, diabetes and some forms of cancer.
Not smoking and maintaining a balanced, nutritious diet are also things people can do to avoid chronic diseases. Increasing physical activity is a great place for most people to start because it’s simple and easy. It’s also something most Delawareans aren’t doing consistently.
According to Centers for Disease Control data from 2000, more than half of adult Delawareans were not getting adequate physically activity.
The benefits of improving those numbers are clear. The more people who become less sedentary and more active, the fewer cases of chronic disease we’ll have in Delaware. You’ll have more energy, less stress and higher productivity at work. And there are other important benefits as well, such as reducing health care costs for businesses and government.
The best part is that being physically active is an opportunity to spend time with family and friends. Whether it’s taking a walk around the neighborhood, hiking through one of our state parks or raking leaves together, all these activities are easier and more rewarding when they’re done with someone else.
For those who are looking for an organized way to stay active, consider the many groups around the state that sponsor fitness program. They are in churches, community centers, senior centers and schools, and many meet daily.
For me, it’s an easy decision. Stay physically active and you lower your chances of getting a deadly chronic disease. Heart disease, diabetes and cancer lead to tragic times for families, high health care costs and lifestyles that are limited. It doesn’t have to be that way. A little extra activity each day can make a huge difference.
Take a walk today. The next time you go to the store, don’t take the parking spot nearest to the entrance. Park at the back of the lot and walk. Take your kids to the park this weekend. Weed the garden.
Take the Lt. Governor’s Challenge. It’s easy to join. Just call the Division of Public Health at (302) 739-4724 (cq) or call my office at 577-8787 and request a Challenge logbook. The book contains instructions about how to register, a chart showing how many points different activities are worth, an area to log your daily activities and instructions about how to send for your medal.
I’d like all Delawareans to take the Challenge and help make Delaware the first state to be fit.
John C. Carney, Jr. is the Lt. Governor of Delaware and Chairman of the Delaware Health Care Commission.
