Vancouver Olympics- An Eye-opener

Wow! What a historic win by Canadians at the ice-hockey game against the US... Indeed a perfect way to end our Winter Olympics. Sidney Crosby has truly emerged as a hero in the eyes of millions of viewers who witnessed the game. With all the buzz and excitement The Vancouver Olympics has created I thought that maybe I should write one of my blogs on this topic. Then an article on CTV news website caught my attention.. The title of article was truly inspiring. “Will Olympics inspire us to get up off the couch.”?

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20100226/olympic_effect_100228/20100228?hub=Health


According to Dr Grant Lum, the Toronto based sports-physician feels that watching the Olympic Games has motivated patients coming to his clinic to push a little harder in their workouts. Maureen Hagan vice-president of the Good Life Fitness Clubs also feels that those who are coming to the clubs are so inspired by the Olympics to get off the couch. In fact, she has been hearing people say in her classes’ things like “Let’s dedicate this class to skating and work our legs harder”



What is interesting is that even Canadian kids are seeing these exceptional athletes who are winning medals at these events as their role models. Overall it has had such a huge impact on everyone. Starting from kids to seniors everyone wants to become physically active in the true spirit of Olympics. Dr Lum feels that Olympic athletes fascinate average Canadians possibly because they’ re so different from professional athletes who can often seem two- dimensional. He further states that although these people have everyday lives yet they perform at such an incredible level which inspires us to do things with our bodies that we might have never imagined.


Last yr in one of my courses we discussed some key theories related to health behaviour. As, I happened to read this article it reminded me of the Social impact Theory proposed by Bandura. According to Bandura, we learn human behaviour by observing and following others e.g., at home, daily routines or even the media. In my opinion, I definitely feel that these games have created a positive impact on us to incorporate physical activity into our daily routine. Watching our favourite players perform at these games we just feel that we could also be like them. On the flip side, Maureen says that she has been noticing an Olympic effect at her gyms. By this she means only few members are coming to her gyms as they are catching all the excitement of these games at home. Yes, I do agree with Maureen that Vancouver Olympics have definitely made us a couch potato. Not only this, we also tend to munch on unhealthy foods like fries, booze, pizzas, as we watch these games on our television sets. In fact, one of the blogs by Kulpreet on Super Bowl Sundays seems to illustrate this reality. Like Super Bowl Sundays as Kulpreet said, Winter Olympics have also unknowingly contributed to weight gain and risk factors associated with it such as diabetes, heart attack. To read Kulpreet’s blog on Super Bowl Sundays follow the link

http://nutritionpool.blogspot.com/2010/02/super-bowl-sunday.html


In my opinion, I believe that every issue has both potential benefits and harms associated with it. Yes I do remember, the dispute which took place in Vancouver by protestors who felt that it would have been better to spend these $$ on major social issues such as poverty, homelessness. There is an interesting blog on this issue by Chung. U can read her blog in the following link.

http://starlightmoonbrightfoodfight.blogspot.com/2010/02/oh-canada.html


Ultimately I think it is important for us to realize that Winter Olympics is creating a hope for a positive change in the right direction. If these games are going to inspire people to adopt physical activity into their lifestyle then I think it is worth it. In my eyes, Vancouver Olympics has truly emerged as an eye-opener.