Physical and mental health was the name of the game as Wellness Week activities took over Victoria Park yesterday afternoon.

Celebrating Wellness: Family Fitness Fun brought together around 100 people to work out, have fun and learn more about healthy habits.

David Kendell, director of the Department of Health, greeted attendees. He said this year’s event was aimed at family participation with stations geared towards both adults and children.

Kim Wilson, the Minister of Health, said the event was intended to celebrate wellness and encourage people to get up and moving.

She said the event had a wide variety of stations, where people could learn about healthy cooking and exercise.

“We have a number of gyms present, the Bermuda Gymnastics Association, the Jump Rope Federation, and we are just encouraging everyone to get healthy and understand how important it is to stay healthy,” she said.

“In addition to the fact that we have a high rate of non-communicable diseases, a lot of the issues we have in Bermuda are health related. They are related to what we do.

“We can try to change that, arrest it or reverse it simply by adopting proper, healthy etiquette such as eating well, exercising, moving and getting plenty of rest.

“We also want to make sure that people recognise the importance of taking care of mental health because it is just as important as physical health. They go hand in hand.”

Donna Steede said she was interested in taking part in the event as a way to introduce herself to new approaches to fitness.

“The great thing is that they are encouraging young people to come out and do things like gymnastics,” she said. “It’s a lot easier to keep good habits going if you don’t have to unlearn all the bad ones.

“Now that it’s getting a little cooler I’m hoping that I will be able to get out and do more walking but it is also about diet and watching what you eat.”

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