Sleep, nutrition and exercise important to build immunity
Three- day nutrition congress lays importance on building immunity
Right nutrition, proper sleep, hydration and physical exercise have an important role to play in building overall immunity in people to fight infectious diseases like Covid- 19, a leading academic said yesterday.
Dr Hadia Radwan, professor of clinical nutrition and dietetics from the University of Sharjah, conducted a three- week survey of over 2,060 residents of UAE during the lockdown in May 2020. She presented her findings at the sixth edition of the Dubai International Nutritional Congress, organised by Dubai Health Authority ( DHA) that held a virtual conference.
The three- day event, being held under the patronage of Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, Minister of Finance and President of the DHA, has the theme: ‘ Your Immunity your treasure’.
Speaking to Gulf News, Dr Radwan said: “What we observed was that home cooked food consumption went up to 90 per cent and there was a significant drop in people ordering takeaways. In addition people were conscious about increasing their immunity and had more fresh fruits and vegetables.”
Public health a priority
However, Dr Radwan said that people need greater education on health and nutrition asmany increased their portion size during lockdown, were up longer in the night watching movies and had sleep deprivation, did not exercise, had stress and also lack of proper hydration. “All these factors play an important part in boosting immunity.”
At the opening ceremony of the event, Humaid Al Qutami, director general of DHA, stressed upon the significance of the theme of immunity in this edition. He said: “Covid- 19 pandemic has prompted institutions and societies to reconsider all health care policies and procedures related to protection and prevention against communicable diseases.
“Perhaps the messages that we highlighted in our previous five editions, where nutrition experts emphasised the importance and the necessity of protecting public health, and enhancing immunity through healthy dietary patterns, are the same messages that the world is focusing on right now to protect ourselves.”