With majority 84 percent respondents eat breakfast daily in Bahrain, about 20 per cent never take any sort of exercise, according to Zarca Interactive Health and Fitness Trends study for the third quarter 2011.
One of the most awaited Health and Fitness Study in the Middle East, Zarca Interactive leading provider of next generation information gathering and data analysis technology for the decision maker, released its third quarter results which shows contentious trend of improvement in most of factors from second quarter in Kingdom of Bahrain.
The independent study conducted in Bahrain by Zarca Interactive witnessed the participation of approximately 300 respondents. The respondent base of the survey included 63 percent Bahraini nationals and over 34 percent Asians and sub-continent expats. A mere 3 percent constituted of Western expats in this nationwide study. A male to female ratio of approximately 67:33 was witnessed in the survey of which over 28 percent respondents were in the age group of 35 – 44 years.
Apart from this 78 percent respondents stated that they have adopted the healthy habit of consuming three meals a day.
The findings of the study presented equilibrium of awareness about calculating Body Mass Index (BMI) with over 40 percent respondents confirming that they knew how to calculate the same. These findings were complemented with the fact that 58 percent respondents of the survey found themselves slightly overweight with approximately two-third (67%) of younger age group (25-34 years) felt they were slightly overweight. The study also revealed that 37 percent of overall respondents claimed to be in the appropriate weight zone.
“We are confident that the comprehensive and advanced findings of Zarca’s Health and Fitness study have been instrumental towards educating the Bahrain residents about a healthier lifestyle and motivating them towards the adoption of good health practices,” he added.
“It is known that, to promote healthy behaviour is a collective responsibility and shared by everyone. It is fulfilling to see that the percentage of healthy habits have improved and risen high in a short period in Bahrain, with more people opting for a balanced life style. Walking, drinking plenty of water, consuming breakfast and healthy snacking is being adopted by everyone,” Dr. Amal Al Jowder, Director of Health Promotion, Ministry of Bahrain said.
“We are grateful to Zarca Interactive for its commitment towards Corporate Social Responsibility for conducting periodic studies to measure the health and fitness habits of GCC citizens and residents and bringing to light solutions which impact the national programs carried out by the Ministry of Health and other government and civil institutions. This study has encouraged us to consider signing a Memorandum of Understanding with Zarca for periodic research studies to assess the behaviours and lifestyles of the people of Bahrain which otherwise undertaken by us, would not be as effective due to lack of human resources. We would also like to call upon private sectors to be a key partner with us to achieve a healthy and well balanced lifestyle.”
Remarkably the study has further revealed that one in five (20 percent) of Bahraini nationals never undertake any form of exercise. On the other hand a majority of the respondents, resort to sport activities to relieve their stress, instead of opting for TV as an alternate solution. This finding was further emphasized by the result that over 40 percent of the survey respondents do not bring work home every day. And approximately 19 percent of respondents confirmed that they carry work home or work overtime in office twice to thrice a week.
Opting for organic foods against regular or non – organic foods is a trend that is progressing rapidly as 50 percent respondents’ preferred organic food. Interestingly, a third of the Expatriates – Asian and Sub-continent stated that organic food is not important to them.
Apparently the intake of multivitamins as a regular diet met with uncertainty, wherein 35 percent respondents considered them expensive and a waste of money. Only 25 percent respondent base continued with their multivitamin doses on a daily basis. While the intake percentage of multivitamins might be small, 83 percent respondents were found to be highly aware about verifying the manufacturing and expiry dates for various products.
The similar awareness trend was witnessed amongst the respondents with regards to the self monitoring of key health parameters. Zarca’s Q3 survey for Bahrain has indicated that 40 percent of respondents go for a general medical check-up to monitor their health and overall health issues, annually. Awareness and willingness to adopt a healthy lifestyle is the key to living a well-balanced life.
Zarca Interactive offers a flexible, highly user-friendly and feature-rich solution which can handle multiple languages, provide anonymity to respondents where needed and allow multiple user/role based access in a cost effective manner. The patented survey platform also allows the user to import data from scanned paper-based surveys so that reports can be generated on one platform.
The US-based outfit is the pioneer in online feedback management in the UAE. Zarca Interactive first came into the scene to bridge the gap that existed between small boutique research agencies and the bigger industry players. Through its innovative approach to feedback management and its patented technology platform, the company has since established a position of thought-leadership in the areas of data-driven decision-making in a very short period of time.