ROMA (ITALPRESS) – Active mobility improves health, allowing in many cases to reach the levels of physical activity recommended by the WHO. The experts of the Higher Institute of Health recalled this on the occasion of the European Mobility Week promoted by the European Commission, which will end on 22 September, and this year it has as theme ‘Mobility for Everyone’.
This is one of the themes of the communication campaign “The Saboteurs”, launched by the European Joint Action PreventNCD, conceived around the key message of how the context of life affects our health and, conversely, as small daily actions, such as the choice of cycling or walking or avoiding smoking and alcohol, can help us to live better and longer.
In the middle of the campaign, a three-minute animation video that shows the health sabotagers that meet daily, and how to defend themselves. Many people know the basic concepts to stay healthy: being physically active, having a good diet, avoiding smoking and alcohol. However, just knowing what is necessary to stay healthy does not necessarily result in action. The shops are full of temptations, most people spend most of the day in sedentary activities, they often prefer the use of motor vehicles to walk or bike, and if advertising, prices and availability of products influence what we buy, alcohol and tobacco remain widely accessible in many of the places where we spend our time.
The communication campaign “The Saboteurs” wants to highlight all these influences. In the 25 countries participating in the JA PreventNCD joint initiative funded by the European Union for the contrast to non-transmissible diseases, the campaign will take advantage of several digital tools to show how all the elements of the world around us act as “sabotatori”, silently hindering salutary choices.
In the extended version, about three minutes, of the campaign’s animated film, a common man simply tries to face his day while a group of sabotagers repeatedly interferes with his attempts to make salutary choices. Obviously, the animation proposes a deliberately exaggerated humorous style to make visible what is really invisible, that is to say that the environment that surrounds us constantly influences our behavior, from the design of roads and neighborhoods to what is promoted in stores and online.
The Saboteurs imply both strategies to have healthy lifestyles: on an individual level to operate personal and superior choices, communities and contexts that put people in a position to implement such changes.
“We like to think that our choices are simply personal decisions, but in reality it is the environment in which we live to influence us continuously, often without even realizing it. The real challenge for decision makers and public health authorities is to ensure that it is easier for people to make healthy choices, also creating communities that support them”, says the project coordinator JA PreventNCD, Linda Granlund.
The PreventNCD communication campaign focuses on four areas that have an important impact on cardiovascular health, the risk of cancer and all other non-transmissible diseases: nutrition, physical activity, tobacco and alcohol consumption. The key message is not what everyone needs to transform their routines from today to tomorrow, but in line with international health promotion recommendations to prefer active routes, increase fruit and vegetables consumption, avoid tobacco and alcohol. All small choices repeated throughout the week can become stable and consolidated habits.
“We often underestimate the value of the small actions we do every day, while small changes transforming themselves into real healthy habits can make a real difference in time,” says Granlund.
– Photo Ipa Agency –
(ITALPRESS).
