FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 excitement to boost healthy lifestyles: Researchers

Doha: Weill Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q) have highlighted the opportunity presented by FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 to promote healthy lifestyles as a means to prevent, treat and reverse non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as obesity, heart disease, respiratory disease, type 2 diabetes and certain forms of cancer, among others.

The research points out that NCDs account for almost 70 percent of deaths in Qatar and calls for an increased use of lifestyle medicine approaches to mitigate the risks posed by unhealthy lifestyle habits such as physical inactivity, unhealthy diets, and tobacco use. The paper, published in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, states: “FIFA World Cup 2022 could just be the tipping point in the region that establishes the role of sports in mitigating the burden of NCDs.” The paper, titled ‘Scoring Lifestyle Medicine Goals with FIFA 2022—An Opportunity to Strike Big!’ notes that recreational soccer improves cardio-respiratory endurance, increases bone density and muscular strength, and also enhances balance and flexibility. Regular soccer playing is also known to reduce risk factors for cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and osteoporosis, as well as being an effective tool to fight childhood obesity when coupled with healthy nutrition. Soccer is also known to promote social connectedness and foster relationships, which benefits mental health and wellbeing, the paper states. Furthermore, there is strong evidence that different forms of soccer provide health benefits for almost all groups and ages. The authors of the paper are Dr. Javaid Sheikh, dean of WCM-Q, Dr. Ravinder Mamtani, professor of population health sciences and vice dean for population health and lifestyle medicine, Dr. Sohaila Cheema, associate professor of clinical population health sciences and assistant dean for the Institute for Population Health, and Dr. Sathyanarayanan Doraiswamy.