Many students in your school are not as healthy as they could be. Your class teacher, Ms Lee, has been inspired by a reality TV show which features friends working together to kick unhealthy habits. She has suggested that each student in the class chooses a ‘Health Buddy’ in school for two months and they work together to kick unhealthy habits.

Dear Peter,

I am writing to invite you to be my health buddy. Our class teacher, Ms Lee, has suggested holding a programme called ‘Health Buddy. As its name implies, health buddies are supposed to work together and kick unhealthy habits together. I do hope that you can be my companion in living a healthy life. Let me tell you the benefits of being healthy and what we can do together to make both of us healthy!

First, as the saying goes, ‘Body is a great treasure.’ If you are healthy, you can have more time to study, to experience something new. If you are healthy, you do not need to worry about being sick or overweight. You can then have more energy and live your life in a way you want. You won’t be regret for missing or being absent at some events due to sickness.

Second, studies have shown that 40% students who are overweight in Hong Kong are teased by peers. So it can be said with certain that students who are overweight are less socially accepted. The main reason of being overweight is eating too much than they need and do not get enough exercise. The overweight students teased by peers have their mental health affected if no one around them takes immediate actions. They may become anti-social. Thus, if you are healthy, you do not need to worry about that.

Third, surveys also show that 50% of Hong Kong adults suffer from diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure, just because they are being unhealthy for a long time. If you have good health, you can save medical expenses and take the money to buy something you like or do something meaningful. Also, if you are healthy, your family would not have extra financial burden. More money can be used for other purposes such as going on a family trip. It is more meaningful than using money for curing illnesses which are merely caused by your unhealthy daily habits.

In order to be healthy, I would like to suggest some ideas to work together.

First, we can run together every weekday after school in the school fitness centre. It is convenient as we do not need to spend time on travelling to a gym. Also, if we have no time on weekdays, we can climb the mountain or run around the mountain at weekends. We can feel and enjoy the fresh air there too.

Second, we can control the amount of junk food and meat we eat. We can stop each other from eating junk food such as hamburgers, chicken wings and fish balls. Also, we can remind each other to eat vegetables and fruit every day.

Third, having enough sleep is significant for us. Therefore, we can give a phone call or send a message to each other before going to bed, just to remind that it is time to sleep.

I wholeheartedly wish that you can be my health buddy. Let’s work together to kick unhealthy habits and live positively. By supporting each other, we will finally overcome our laziness and get rid of our bad habits. We will also learn the value of patience and determination.

Cheers,

Amy An Zhi Hua 4A