Sport and health

Sport is very important in our life. It is popular among young and old people.

Many people do morning exercises, jog in the morning and train themselves in clubs in different sections and take part in sport competitions.

Other people like sports too, but they only watch sports games, listen to sports news. They prefer reading interesting stories about sportsmen. But they don't go in for sports.

Physical training is an important sub­ject at school. Pupils have got physical training lessons twice a week. Boys and girls play volley-ball and basket-ball at the lessons. There is a sportsground near our school and schoolchildren go in for sports in the open air.

A lot of different competitions are held at school, a great number of pupils take part in them. All participants try to get good results and become winners. Sport helps people to keep in good health. If you go in for sports, you have good health and don't catch cold.

Children and grown-ups must take care of their health and do morning exercises regularly.

There are some popular kinds of sports in our country: football, volley-ball, hockey, gymnastics, skiing, skating. Ath­letics is one of the most popular kinds of sports. It inchides such kinds of sports as: running, jumping and others. Every­body may choose the sport he (or she) is interested in.

There are summer and winter sports.

My favourite sport is swimming. I go to the swimming-pool twice a week. I pre­fer to rest by the lake or the river and swim there. My friend Kostya goes in for boxing. He is a good boxer and he is a brave and courageous boy. His hobby helps him in his everyday life.

How to take care of health?

I am sure that health is a very impor­tant thing for all people. If you have good health you are in a good mood, I think it is necessary to take care of health.

I know a very useful proverb: "Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise."

First of all one must get up early, do­ing morning exercises. Usually I wash myself in the morning and in the evening with cold or warm water. I clean my teeth twice a day.

Everyone has one's rules about how to be in good health. To spend a lot of time in the open air is a very important fact for everybody. It is useful to go for a walk before going to bed. I think that we have ^{to keep our flats clean. Every day I sweej}

up the room.

It is necessary to take care of our food eating high fibre food. We must eat fruit and vegetables. A good way to live well is dieting.

I believe that we have to eat low fat food and visit a swimming-pool in the evening.

Paying attention to health we have to go in for sports. It means that we must run and jump, play football and volley­ball. In short we must be in some move­ment.

There are some facts which have influ­ence on our health. First of all it is obesi­ty and physical inactivity. We must not eat a lot, we can't eat much sugar and plenty of sweets.

Drinking much alcohol is not useful for our health. It is a terrible fact when we eat at night, don't follow a diet, use high-calorie foods and don't move a lot.

Smoking is not useful for our health too. If a person smokes a lot he (she) will be ill. To smoke is to live at the risk of one's life.

I suppose that it is necessary to go to bed till 11 o'clock and get up at 7 o'clock.

I am sure that our health is connected with our attack of nerves. I think that we must not be nervous.

First aid

I = Interviewer C = Dr Clarke

I Dr Clarke, when an accident happens the people present are much more likely to be people of the general public and not members of the medical profession. Now, how good are we? I mean would you say that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing? If we're not sure what to do, is it actually best not to do anything at all?

C Well, they're obviously interesting and important questions. Yes, first aid is terribly important and you can save lives if the right action is taken. I'd say that uhm ninety per cent of first aid is common sense, and only ten per cent is specialist knowledge. If someone isn't breathing, you must give them artificial respiration, and I think most people know how to do that. If the person is bleeding, the bleeding must be stopped. I think these things are obvious. Medical help must of course be sought and someone must decide whether the victim can be taken to hospital, or whether, given the nature of their particular accident, the victim should be left alone. I Yes, can we talk about road accidents more specifically in a moment? C Yes.

I Is there one particular kind of accident where generally we get it wrong, we follow our common sense but it lets us down, and we do the wrong thing? C Yes, I think there are two things associated with that. On the subject of burns, for example, some people put cream or grease or butter on, and this in fact makes the burn hotter; and the other thing . . . I I'm sorry to interrupt. What

should we do about burns, then"⁷ C Well, you need to decide first of all how bad it is. If it is a minor burn, the best thing to do is put the burnt area under the cold tap, or slowly pour on iced water. I I see.

C This should be done for about ten minutes, and it stops the heat from spreading. However, if it's a bad burn, what we call a third-degree burn, don't touch it, you really should get for this kind of burn expert help immediately. Cover the burn very lightly with something clean like a sheet or a, or a handkerchief and then go straight to a hospital. The other thing people do is to give drinks, especially alcoholic drinks, which means that if the patient needs an operation, we can't give an anaesthetic. I So it's better not to give any

drinks at all.

C Certainly not alcoholic drinks. If the patient complains of thirst, he should wash his mouth with water and not swallow.

I That's very useful. Now back to road accidents. Could you give us some general advice on what to

do at the scene of a car accident?

C Yes. Three things. First of all you should check that the victims are breathing. I mean if they're not, give artificial respiration. The most common injuries .in car accidents in fact are fractures and bleeding, so the second thing to do is stop the bleeding. Thirdly, er . . . very important don't move the victim unless it's absolutely necessary. I mean, if any bones are broken, the injury could be made much worse by moving the victim. You should keep them warm, loosen any tight clothing, and try to reassure them. They'll probably be suffering from shock, so just stay with them until expert help arrives. It's a very good thing to do.

I Right, I see. Now, of course, there are a lot of accidents we haven't had time to talk about. But do you think it's worth while for the general public to find out about them, and find out how they can helg.

C Sure, sure, yes, yes. I do indeed. I mean, I would advise people to find out as much as they possibly can. I mean, many of us freeze and panic when, faced with a crisis. So, you know, why not learn about basic first aid?

I Dr Clarke, thank you very much.