How to prevent chronic diseases

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They are very common or rarer. Transmissible, but not always. Permanent or latent, manifesting in relapses. Sometimes preventable and reversible. Or else incurable. They can persist for years, even a lifetime. Affecting the physical or the mental. Unfortunately, they are many and varied. But above all, they are constantly increasing. These are chronic diseases.

Diabetes, cancer, AIDS, hepatitis C, depression, myopathies, cystic fibrosis, multiple sclerosis, pain, fibromyalgia, respiratory ailments… and the list goes on.

 » Prevention and early detection programs are promising, but far from well developed in most countries « , pointed out the European Observatory of Health Systems and Policies, which encourages investing in prevention. And this, by playing on the perennial – modifiable – risk factors of tobacco, alcohol, nutrition and physical exercise: modifying them in the right direction and indulging in 30 minutes of physical activity a day would reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes by 80% and by more than 40% cancer cases.

Diseases that are expensive in more ways than one

Responsible for more than 60% of deaths, chronic diseases are the leading cause of death. In Europe, it is estimated that these pathologies affect one third of people over 15, a rate that rises to 80% among those over 65. If they are expensive in human lives, chronic diseases also have a colossal financial cost for society: they represent approximately 75% of health expenditure on a global scale, of which 97% of the total is devoted to treatment and only 3% to prevention !

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The physical education teacher, a key player in promoting an active lifestyle

Directly associated with the emergence of chronic non-communicable diseases, physical inactivity is one of the scourges of our societies. It affects more and more young people. We know that the habits – good and bad – acquired in childhood or adolescence condition the way of life in adulthood. Hence the importance of tackling the problem at the root. Investing in the promotion of physical activity from an early age should be a priority for many specialists, if we do not want to pay the price tomorrow for this time bomb, the emergence of these chronic pathologies non-communicable diseases, such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancers, etc.

If all children and adolescents have the right to benefit from physical education lessons, as stipulated by Unesco in its Charter of Physical Education, Physical Activity and Sport, how can this activity either of quality, within the framework of primary and secondary education?

For Professor Marc Cloes, from the Department of Motricity Sciences at the ULg, who is organizing the first Week of Physical Education (PE), physical activity and sport from February 20 to 27, as well as a symposium (February 24), today, the physical education teacher must manage to get his students to transpose more into their daily lives what is learned in the context of his course.

 » We try to show that the role of the physical education class is to form responsible citizens of their body and to teach young people the very foundations of its use throughout their lives. « , he explains. In other words:  » PE teachers must be able to put in place systematic actions to work on young people’s representations of physical activity, so that they want to adopt them. even an active lifestyle, outside of school or educational structures « .

Develop skills to achieve goals

From a teacher once primarily focused on sports education, the physical education teacher now has a much broader mission. The education reform of the early 2000s introduced the development of skills and, within the framework of physical education lessons, the notion of goals, namely the improvement of health, safety, sports expression and culture.

 » Through a series of physical and sporting activities, the PE teacher will help develop skills to achieve goals explains Marc Cloes. In today’s extremely sedentary society, the PE teacher is the key person in schools to promote physical activity. This is a fundamental role because we find that the earlier we act to try to instil an active lifestyle in young people, the more likely they are to remain active later on. « .

 » I believe that, on leaving high school, in his complete development as a human being, the student must have acquired, among other things, a series of skills that make him a physically educated citizen. continues Professor Marc Cloes. This means that he must know what physical activity is, what it is for, what the recommendations are, how to measure his physical activity… Then, by looking in his living environment, he must be able to find the resources that allow him, once he has left school, to be active. As we will have taught him to read, we teach him to understand and feel that physical activity is something fundamental « .

Use what we have seen in class in everyday life

In addition, the PE teacher must increasingly anchor his course in the student’s social life.  » He must show him that what he does in class will serve him beyond school. Whether it’s how to tie your shoelaces or carry a heavy object without hurting your back, why warm up or which muscles are working in this or that movement…

We must also make him aware that physical activity is not limited to sport and offer activities where he will be able to progress, have a degree of autonomy and work together, with others and not in a spirit of competition. It is in a few words how to use what we have seen during our everyday life.  »

And, if possible, until the end of his days.