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From my observation living in Singapore lifestyle is an important factor. People are generally active and there seems to be little obesity. Among young guys at
by Lxr 9y ago
From my observation living in Singapore lifestyle is an important factor. People are generally active and there seems to be little obesity. Among young guys at least, national service and the associated mandatory fitness requirements seem to play a part in setting long term habits early.
- inferiorhuman 9y agoSee also: Trim and Fit. Obesity is a thing in Singapore.
- seanmcdirmid 9y agoYa, isn't it really hot and humid there? That would make exercise a bit harder.
- eesmith 9y agoSingapore has the nickname "The Air-conditioned Nation". More to the point, the climate hasn't changed but the percentage of obese people there, like in most countries, is increasing. You therefore can't attribute that recent increase to heat and humidity.
- seanmcdirmid 9y agoYa, that makes sense. Also, if it's like southern china, people are probably pretty active outside at night when its cooler (e.g. Night square dancing, night markets, etc...). Rising obesity rates can be related to the weather even if it hasn't changed if there is pressure on lifestyle from other areas (e.g. Work/life balance). E.g. People in the south USA are not increasingly obese even though the weather stays the same, life style pressure plus hot and humid climate combine to create the problem; climate makes the problem more difficult to fix once it appears.
- inferiorhuman 9y agoFrom my experience, it's still hot as balls at night. The only deliberate activity I did outside in SG at any time of day was to go find air conditioning inside. Of course I'm American, not Singaporean.
- eru 9y agoI found Singaporean nights quite nice and mild. I'm German and used to much colder temperatures, but the 25 degrees Celsius at night and a mild breeze where quite bearable for leisurely strolls and even working out.
- inferiorhuman 9y agoMy experience was closer to 30 degrees by 9pm which when combined with that humidity was just awful. After a rain it gets pretty nice at night though. The Singaporeans and Malaysians I know mostly tend to be heavier than Asian friends and acquaintances from other countries. Dunno if the stats bear that out or if I'm just an outlier. Likewise, I don't think that the climate is so different than other nearby countries, but the food is. Tons of fried, oily, greasy carbs. It's absolutely delicious, but you can feel your arteries slamming shut just looking at half of the things you'd get in a hawker centre.
- eru 9y agoI love hawker centre food. Especially the uber greasy char kway teow. I mostly hung out with locals, and they didn't seem to be on the chubbier side. But I didn't make formal statistical comparisons with people from elsewhere in south east asia. Once the sun's down, I didn't mind the weather one bit. I just avoided going out during the day. It's a great place for barefoot running, and midnight shopping.