The Health Promotion Administration (HPA) yesterday said it plans to set up 288 fitness clubs nationwide by 2025 to help elderly people prevent muscle loss and other disabilities.
The number of people aged 65 or older has reached more than 3.94 million, accounting for 16.9 percent of the nation’s population, HPA Deputy Director-General Chia Shu-li (賈淑麗) told a news conference in Taipei.
However, the prevalence of sarcopenia — progressive loss of muscle mass and strength — in the nation is about 7 percent, implying that there could be more than 300,000 elderly people with sarcopenia, which increases the risk of other disabilities, she said.
Photo: Wu Cheng-ting, Taipei Times
“In a 2013 study by the HPA, we found that about 16.5 percent of elderly people fell at least once in the past one year, and about 8 percent sought treatment or were hospitalized after falling,” Chia said.
Bone fracture is a common fall-induced injury among older people, and in some serious cases, falling can cause a stroke, so it is important that older adults preserve muscle mass by exercising, she said.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare launched a Senior Fitness Club pilot program on June 30, 2020, and the HPA in the second half of last year promoted a Senior Fitness Club subsidy program, encouraging local governments to open fitness centers targeting older people.
Fourteen fitness clubs were set up in the pilot program, and there were about 50 fixed members at each site, so a total of about 700 members each visited the gyms about three times a week, Chia said.
The HPA has allocated a budget of NT$288 million (US$10.33 million) to set up 288 more Senior Fitness Clubs across the nation from this year to 2025, hoping to encourage more older people to make it a habit to exercise regularly, she said.
At the news conference, a man surnamed Chen (陳) was invited to share his experience of exercising at the Smart Senior Health Promotion Center established by National Yunlin University of Science and Technology as a demonstration site for senior fitness clubs.
After showing his ability to do a handstand, forward bend, squat on one foot and yoga tree pose, Chen, who had been diagnosed with cirrhosis and cancer, said his muscle strength, muscular endurance, balance and flexibility all improved after joining the fitness club.
“When I was in my 50s, the doctor said I might have only five more years to live, and now I am 75 years old,” Chen said.
Chen said he only started exercising after he became sick, and felt even stronger after learning from instructors at the fitness club in the past few months.
He encouraged other elderly people who do not have the habit of exercising to “take the first step” by going to the fitness gym, and “you will continue to improve from then on.”
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
RSS