In a bid to increase productivity and good health of parliament staff, the Parliament Fitness and Preventive Health Expert Robert Ssebugwawo has on top of the bi-monthly fitness workouts at parliament initiated quarterly workshops to enlighten them about the importance of healthy living and keeping fit.

The first of such workshops was held at Hotel Africana last week and attended by 40 parliament staff picked from different departments.

“I realised that the best way to make it more effective and engaging was to have the directors of each of the 22 departments of parliament choose two ambassadors who are supposed to first appreciate the importance of keeping fit so that the participation in the bi-monthly fitness workouts can be higher by spreading the fitness gospel to their colleagues,” Ssebugwawo noted.

A cross section of parliament staff who attended a three-day fitness and wellness workshop. Photo by Michael Nsubuga

“We started with parliament staff because they are grounded, and the bottom line is to keep them with the information to realise that the modern world that we live in has so many challenges that aid communicable diseases but if they are armed and equipped with this information it can help them and their respective staff members so that by the end of the day parliament will have very productive staff, reduce medical costs and improve people’s lives.

“The more foot soldiers we have in each department the message would trek down so that by the end of the day parliament becomes a role model for all government agencies to practice fitness and wellness habits and also monitor their health habits,” he noted.

He said the parliament corporate planning strategy department decided that the training will be held after every four months so that there are ambassadors in every department before the same training is extended to the committee chairpersons.

The three-day retreat was facilitated by several experts that included Susan Tashobya who lectured the participants about ‘mental health at the workplace’, and about the wellness revolution by Samuel Lubega.

Newton Mbaziira a Fitness Trainer and Director of NTN Fitness and Wellness Management then lectured them about the self-care philosophy before Ndejje University’s Dean of Students Wilfred Muhumuza gave tips on how to avoid a sedentary lifestyle.

The attentive ‘students’ were then taken through the traditional versus modern lifestyles by Dr. Constance Nsibambi before round table conversations about embracing a fitness lifestyle culture for a lifetime.

On the last day, Dr. Fred Bawulira took the participants through a discussion about diseases associated with poor lifestyle before Kiwanuka and Nsibambi chipped in again with the role of sports participation for good health, and nutritional and dietary guidelines respectively; in between James Angura’s moderation.

Wilfred Muhumuza (left) lectures parliament staff about sedentary lifestyle during a workshop at Hotel Africana. Photo by Michael Nsubuga

To ensure his message sank in, Muhumuza's session was characterized by sitting and standing in between each slide of the lecture that touched on the side effects of a sedentary lifestyle and the benefits of physical activity.

“A single bout of moderate to vigorous physical activity provides immediate benefits for your health,” Muhumuza advised.

He said without physical activity obesity and weight gain set in, cardiovascular issues, muscle weakness and loss, increased risk of chronic diseases, poor posture and musculoskeletal issues, reduced energy, and poor sleep quality among other effects.

He told the participants that immediate physical health benefits of physical activity for adults include improved sleep quality, less anxiety, and reduced blood pressure, while the long-term benefits include good brain and heart health, cancer prevention, healthy weight, bone strength, and improved balance and coordination.

On his part, Mbaziira noted that the way we live is continuously changing and we are faced with the challenges and temptations of life such as food, alcohol, and tobacco, and the opportunity for sedentary lifestyles. He noted that the choices people make are the cause of today’s epidemic of heart attacks and strokes, cancers, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, and other ‘non-communicable diseases.

“The good news is that it is possible to reduce substantially our risk of these diseases by adjusting our lifestyles, taking more care of ourselves by practicing self-care,”

Angura said the parliament realized that they needed to increase productivity and good health of their staff.

“The group was chosen from those who are enthusiastic about sports and wellness. The intention is to improve the productivity of our staff. We want to form a critical mass of staff that will move their colleagues from their comfort zone and educate them about the importance of wellness to a person’s productivity, of course, they will even take the same message even to their respective communities,” Angura stated.