Column | Dear Santa, please take the politicians in your bag to Spain

Dear Sinterklaas, This year I don’t need anything myself, but I would like to ask you something. Because you come when called, and right on time. As you probably know, there will be elections in the Netherlands next week. I beg you: when you leave on December 5, put all the freshly elected politicians in the bag. And take them to Spain.

Because it doesn’t seem to get through, no matter how many numbers appear. We exercise too little, we sit far too much, we eat unhealthy, and obesity is increasing. This week the RIVM released new figures and it is downright shocking that only 44 percent of Dutch people manage to get enough exercise. And I’m not just talking about sports, am I! But just exercise: cycle a bit, take a walk.

For our health, we should sit for a maximum of seven hours a day. If we sit more, the risk of diseases such as type 2 diabetes increases rapidly. How many hours per day do the Dutch sit on average, do you think? That has already risen to over nine.

Also read
this political reconstruction of NRC about exercise: how a ‘silent pandemic’ could continue to grow

There is no election manifesto in which this is a serious theme. No, other topics are much more important than the health of all of us. Security of existence, that is what it is always about. Why is it under pressure? Due to rising healthcare costs, for example. Next year healthcare will cost us 113 billion, and in the coming years 3 to 4 billion will be added every year. By 2040, healthcare will be unaffordable if we continue on the current path.

Dear Sinterklaas, I don’t have to explain to you how you can save on healthcare costs. You are an old but very fit man. You do a lot of exercise, you know how important that is. I have felt like a voice crying in the desert for so long and out of desperation I almost no longer know who to turn to, because in this matter the solution is even simpler than 1 plus 1. But because no politician seems to understand it, I chew it again.

Let people exercise and exercise more. Then they stay fitter and slimmer, fewer medications are needed, and healthcare costs drop. Security of existence, happiness and well-being increase. We set a good example for our children, because seeing movement makes moving happen. So please take those politicians into your pocket.

Let them take a good look in Catalonia, where I visit regularly. There, children receive a healthy meal at school every day. Varied, with meat and fish, lots of vegetables and yoghurt and fruit for dessert. After dinner there is an hour and a half of time to play every day, and everything is offered: all kinds of sports, dance, yoga, theater, painting, you name it. Children can choose for themselves. This way they get more than enough exercise and are introduced to all kinds of sports.

Why is that possible in Spain and not here? Well, an experiment is being done here and there. But why don’t we make a radical choice for the health of our children – if not out of conviction, at least for the national wallet?

Please take the politicians into your pocket, oh dear Santa. And leave them in Spain until they see the light. That’s my only wish this year. Thank you.

Marijn de Vries is a former professional cyclist and journalist.

To share





Email the editor