Good health to Gwynedd

Wednesday, 05 November 2008

Gwynedd will be part of a national programme to promote a healthy lifestyle during November (2 and 8 November) as part of the Healthy Living Week funded by the Welsh Assembly Government.

The aim of the project is twofold – to help people make changes to their lives which could improve their health; to encourage companies and groups to organise events which promote a healthy lifestyle.

The highlight of the week locally will be the launch of a new Gwynedd Health Challenge website: www.healthchallengegwynedd.org.uk at Caernarfon library on Thursday, 6 November at 4pm.

The website will provide information on how people can improve their health, within the following themes:

• Smoking
• Food and fitness
• Accidents and injuries
• Alcohol and substance misuse
• Infections

Health Challenge Gwynedd will provide information across the board during the Health Challenge Week.

During this week every nursery and childminder in the county will receive posters promoting the benefits of healthy eating, based on the campaign to encourage people to eat five portions of fruit or vegetables a day.

During Healthy Living Week all Gwynedd Council staff will receive an e-mail with top tips on how to improve their health, ranging from advice on food and exercise to vital information about alcohol.

Llinos Owen, the Health Challenge Gwynedd Co-ordinator said:

This is the third time for Healthy Living Week to be held. Our aim is to give people a choice of places and facilities where they can get information about things that affect the health of Gwynedd residents.

We want people to understand that small changes can make a world of difference to their health – simple changes such as taking less salt with their food, a little regular exercise and knowing where there is advice available are far reaching.