Choice of middle aged people in Singapore to exercise

Target group:
People from the age of 30-48, in particularly woman who lead a sedentary lifestyle
but are otherwise healthy
Issue:
-

Singaporeans in particular woman lack sufficient exercise 1

the lack of time didn't mean a lack of desire but reflected the hard reality
for most married women with children. Women remain the traditional
caregiver in any given family. 2
Exercise embarked on should not be time consuming but still be vigorous
According to researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of
Medicine, climbing stairs burns up 250 percent more calories than swimming
for the same amount of time, 23 percent more than running and 400 percent
more than walking at two miles per hour.
Tapping on the many skyscrapers and buildings in Singapore
This is significant because if nobody is overweight or obese, we can prevent
almost 70% of the diabetes burden (including premature death and years
spent in ill health)
In line with SSC aims to close or narrow the gap between female sports
participation and the national average
o provide funding and publicity support for advertisements, publicity
campaigns

1 About 42% of all women in Singapore participate in some kind of sports once a
week versus 55% for men
2 Published on the Singapore sports council (SSC) website

Done by: Chua Wei Qi 14so3G (496 words)

Choice of middle aged people in Singapore to exercise

Action plan: Promote stairs climbing as a form of exercise

1. Raise awareness: Publicity campaign
- dispelling myths about stairs climbing through the use of social media,
newspaper and posters 3
- Articles could be featured in various newspapers such as mind your body to
inform people about appropriate postures to minimize chances of incurring
an injury
- Placing poster to promote stairs climbing4
o state benefits derived from stairs climbing such as calories burnt
o Visible stairs lobbies should be present5
- Update to the health pyramid

3 E.g. Stair climbers contribute to overall knee health by strengthening the muscles
that support the fragile knee joint and by helping to reduce excess body weight. The
impact on knees and feet is relatively low, with the pressure equivalent to two times
ones body weight walking up stairs (compared with three to four times when
running),
4 research has shown that just by putting up a sign about the benefits of climbing
stairs showed an increase in overall stair use of 34%
5 use of stair-riser banners was associated with an increase in the number of people using
the stairs by a factor of 1.49 in MRT stations

Done by: Chua Wei Qi 14so3G (496 words)

Choice of middle aged people in Singapore to exercise

2 servings of fruits
2 servings of
vegetables
8 FLIGHTS OF
STEPS

2.
-

Provide incentives: Pairing up with art students and advertisers

Furnish stairwells (1st-4th stories) with pictures, posters and art pieces
Team up with art students from Laselle
To promote sustainability and ensure that posters would be updated,
advertisers could be brought in, visual advertisement (with few words)
Serve as an incentive for people to climb stairs (visual treat)
Pilot trial at some companies and buildings small scale to gain feedback

Done by: Chua Wei Qi 14so3G (496 words)

Choice of middle aged people in Singapore to exercise

3. Enabling sporting action: Improving conditions of stairways

- Increase cleanliness and safety of stair lobbies to ensure that they are
brightly lit and clean , engage relevant estate management
- signs could be pasted to discourage accumulation of belongings along
stairways
- promote accessibility of stairwells in apartments and offices

4. Providing Goals: Promoting vertical marathons

- Partnership with the national sports council could be formed and include
vertical marathons under community sports category in the national games
to help spike interest
- Encourage companies with existing sporting events to organize annual
vertical marathons amongst staff, function as staff bonding time funding
could be obtained from SSC (incentive)
- E.g. Conrad hotel organizes staff marathons
- Cooperation with the swissotel which organizes an annual vertical marathon,
and the NTU sports club which organizes the national vertical marathon
o increase awareness and participation in vertical marathons in
Singapore

Bibliography:
1. http://madamenoire.com/87480/simple-free-ways-to-stay-fit/smiling-youngbusinesswoman-walking-up-stairs/
2. http://www.ssc.gov.sg/publish/Corporate/en/participation/people0/Women.htm
l
Done by: Chua Wei Qi 14so3G (496 words)

Choice of middle aged people in Singapore to exercise

3. http://womenandsports.sg/about-us/
4. http://www.pacsc.org.sg/
5. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/19/health/nutrition/19fitness.html?
pagewanted=all&_r=0
6. http://www.livestrong.com/article/301818-are-stair-climbers-good-for-theknees/
7. http://www.swissotelverticalmarathon.com/
8. http://www.runsociety.com/2012/11/05/stair-climbing-vs-running/
9. http://healthyliving.azcentral.com/benefits-stair-climbing-2608.html
10.http://www.thirdage.com/exercise-fitness/health-benefits-of-climbing-stairs
11.http://nvm.ntusportsclub.sg/about-us.html
12.http://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/10/1/210
13.http://ericron.wordpress.com/2011/02/01/toulmin-model-to-analyze-a-visualadvertisement/
14.http://www.nutrition.com.sg/he/hepyr.asp

Done by: Chua Wei Qi 14so3G (496 words)