Life & Health

More people go to Prague forests. They want to relax from the noise of the metropolis, but there has never been so many of them.

The recent study of Prague City hall brought quite surprising numbers. Especially those, where Prague forests are compared to touristically attractive Sumava in the South of the Czech Republic. On one hectare of Prague forest 5200 visitors take turns. At turistically attractive Sumava, it is only tens of people.

The most favorite Prague forest is Hvezda park at Prague 6, visited by the same numbers the as the botanical garden in Troja – seven thousand four hundred on one hectare per year.

Prague so started planting of new forests, in supplying of the demand. 100 hectare forest is being planted at Brezineves, another will be planted in Dubec.

Who is going to win in the Czech Republic, the well-known liberal country? There are new proposals of the law that should bring some fresh air to non-smokers in restaurants.

1st variation – total ban on smoking in restaurants
2nd variation – smoking only in a smoking room, build specially in enterprises
3rd variation – so called Spanish model – under 100m2 the owner decides, whether the hospitality enterprise is going to be smoking or not, over 100m2 he/she must build a wall between both sides
4th variation – The owner chooses, regardless of acreage.

The first wave of war on smoking brought the law, that can be interpreted like this: Smoking in the Czech Republic is prohibited in these places : theatres, cinemas, sport halls, railway stations, waiting rooms and bus or tram stops, in offices of state administration, in schools, hospitals and other medical institutions. People can smoke in restaurants provided the restaurant does not have any extra places for smokers.

The law has been valid for a year now. It is not only ambiguous, but it is also not extorted enough by the police. Policemen usually inflict only a symbolic fine. Another problem is, that owners of the restaurants usually understand the law in different ways.

Which of the new proposals is going to win? We will inform you in January.

First light bulbs of the festive decorations are appearing in the streets of Prague. The first city part to introduce light-bulbs and other symbolic decorations is Prague 4, and its 14 most frequent streets.

Christmas trees are going to appear, as each year, in front of churches and city halls. As each year, the biggest tree, many stances offering mull and presents, together with concerts and thematic performances, are going to be at Old Town Square.

This is the first day, when Prague got covered in snow this year.

According to the new survey made by SC&C agency for MF DNES, 82% of Czech people like their job. More than a half out of 1,295 respondents like their jobs even though they feel they are not paid enough.

29% of Czech people are satisfied with their job and their salary.
The most satisfied people have university degree. People with basic education like their job the least. The most satisfied are people from Olomouc district, the least from South Bohemia. Women and man feel almost the same satisfaction from their, even though women has often lower salaries. In Prague the average salary of women is even 10,000 CZK lower than men’s salary.

According to the psychologist Miloslav Solc, Czech people in general are hardworking, they like varied and independent work, they like to work in their own tempo and methods. On the other hand Czech people don’t like deadlines and they hand over their work at the very last moment.

Smoking will be absolutely forbidden in Czech trains since December 2007. Last smokers´ compartments, which are still in some express trains, will be abolished. Czech Railways (Ceske drahy, CD) wish to follow the European trend of restricting smoking in public spaces.

The fine for smoking in trains will be 100,- CZK. The ban will apply also for the international trains, running from Hungary or Poland, where smoking is still permitted. The passengers will be allowed to smoke only till they arrive to the Czech borders.

A similar ban on smoking in trains will be in Germany and Austria since 1st September.

A new proposal of the criminal code in the Czech Republic brings a new attitude to soft drugs: it intends to reduce the penalty for those, who raise marijuana or other plants containing psychoactive substances.

At the present time, the Czech criminal code doesn´t make a difference between soft and hard drugs. The new proposal aims to differ between them according to their dangerousness.

Raising hemp in “smaller than large amount” might be even non-punishable. The concrete amount would be stated by a government decree then.

Whether smoking should or should not be prohibited in restaurants is now a ‘hot topic’ in the Czech Republic. The Czech Republic may join other countries, such as Great Britain or Italy, where smoking in public indoor spaces is prohibited. A new anti-smoking law should be discussed by politicians this September.

According to the survey of Median agency, 54% of Czech people would prohibit smoking in restaurants. 74 % of non-smokers in the Czech Republic want non-smoking restaurants, on the other hand smoking in restaurants want 87% of smokers.

Smoking in the Czech Republic is prohibited in theatres, cinemas, sport halls, railway stations, waiting rooms and bus or tram stops, in offices of state administration, in schools, hospitals and other medical institutions. People can smoke in restaurants provided the restaurant does not have any extra places for smokers.

According to the research of John Komlos of University of Munich, Czech people are third tallest in the world, together with Swedish and Norwegians. With their average height of 177.5 cm (5ft 9.8) they are even taller than their American counterparts who used to be the tallest in the world not long time ago.

The tallest nation from the ranked states are Dutch people with the average height of 181.25 cm (5ft 11), followed by Danish people with 180 cm (5ft 10). Americans with average height of 176 cm (5ft 9.2) are behind Germans and British.

The reason why some nations are taller than others remains for scientists a kind of mystery. It might be connected with diet and health care.

If you’re going to the Czech Republic and you plan to see besides the popular monuments in the centre of Prague also splendid Czech countryside, we would like warn you against the higher occurrence of infected ticks this year.

Popular tourist destinations for tours are central Bohemia and south Bohemia. Unfortunately, these districts are high-risk area regarding infected ticks. But because more ticks survived the winter due to very warm weather, they can be found in city parks and other “non-traditional” places.

The ticks spread mainly the Lyme-borelliose and the tick-borne encephalitis which can be fatal to an infected person. How to prevent yourself from being infected? First of all, there are several vaccines against encephalitis, but the best time to be vaccinated is in autumn. In drugstores and pharmacies you can buy many insect repellents. But if you still find a tick on your skin, remove it immediately and watch the spot for some time. It’s also possible to send the tick for examination to a special lab.

According to the latest survey made by SC&C agency for MS DNES, 64% of Czech people are in favour of legalization of euthanasia in the Czech Republic. 28% of people are against it.

The survey is very topical, as one of the member of the Parliament (and a former doctor) Boris Stastny wants to legalize euthanasia in the Czech Republic. He found the inspiration in the Netherlands and Belgium where euthanasia is legalized. Many Czech doctors refuse it.

In favour of euthanasia are mainly young people, people with high salaries, people from Prague and voters of Civil Democrats. Opponents of euthanasia are mainly older people and voters of Christian Democrats.

More and more people are moving to Prague in the last few years. There are two main reasons for it. Prague can offer the highest average salaries in the whole country and the unemployment here is one of the lowest.

The Czech capitol attracts mainly young people without families who can find good job opportunities there. When they earn enough money they tend to move to outskirts of Prague or villages near Prague to raise children.

There are now 1 194 407 inhabitants in Prague. Popular areas are Prague districts 4, 6 and 10. A large number of Prague immigrants consists of foreigners, especially from Ukraine, Russia and Vietnam.

Prague dwellers and visitors can have their health checked near the vestibule of the metro station Narodni trida (yellow line B) this Friday. The action organized by the Czech insurance company VZP CR is a part of the charity festival Aventin Cultural Summer, that is taking place now between streets Purkynova, Vladislavova, Charvatova and Spalena and Aventin Palace.

Health workers near Narodni trida will measure the level of cholesterol, triglyceride and sugar in their blood, body fat percentage and blood pressure. The results will be examined by doctors who can suggest next steps if any of the measured data is not good.

The measurements are meant for everybody, regardless their insurance company. The action will be repeated at the same place on 26th July, 9th and 23rd August, 6th and 20th September and 4th October 2007.

The number of inhabitants of the Czech Republic grows – it is more than 10.3 million at the present time. It is caused especially by a growing number of immigrants, but also by a higher number of born children.

There are more born children, because the mothers were mostly born in the ´70s, the years of population boom in the former Czechoslovakia. However, the average number of born children is still very low – it is only 1.4 per one mother. That´s one of the lowest numbers in the world. According to demographers, the politicians are to blame for this situation, because they don´t support young families enough.

The growth of the population in the Czech Republic is therefore largely caused by immigrants. They are mostly from Ukraine, Vietnam and Slovakia.

Genetic tests made by Genomac International L.t.d revealed that only 51% of Czech people have genetic characteristics that are typical for Slavonic people. Other Czech people have Romanic, Germanic, Jewish, Finno-Ugric or other ancestors.

The test of DNA can show what places on the earth our distant ancestors came from or whether we are descendants of any noble families. The tests are made from saliva samples sent to the laboratory. The whole process takes few weeks and it costs 2450 CZK.

The Genomac company has already tested 5,000 people and made a data bank from the results. People with similar genetic profile can contact their ‘relatives’ through this data bank. According to the director of Genomac Marek Minarik, scientists will be able to say soon what illnesses we are predisposed to with our genetic profile.

Are you thinking of a suitable name for your baby? You can get some inspiration in the most popular names given now to babies born in Prague. The latest list of popular names was published by the Czech Statistical Office.

The most popular names in Prague are now Anna, Eliska and Tereza for girls and Jan, Jakub and Vojta for boys. In the list of the 10 most populars names are also female names Marie, Lucie, Ema or Adelka and male names Filip or Matej.

In the Czech Republic in general, the most popular female names are Tereza, Karolina and Natalie and male names Jan, Jakub and Tomas. Czech parents also chose some more exotic names, such as Nela, Vanesa, Adriana, Sofie or Flora, and Denis, Oliver, Sebastian, Tobias, Enrico or Nathan. Click here to see the calender with the classical Czech names. Read also about the Name Day in the Czech Republic.

According to the survey of STEM agency, Czech people have the most positive attitute to the Slovak Republic, France and the Netherlands. ‘Good marks’ were given to the Slovak Republic by 83% of the respondents, to France and the Netherlands by 82% of the respondents.

These states are followed by Sweden and Denmark (80%) and Italy (76%). The least good marks were given to Serbia (36%), Russia (29%), Ukraine (27%) and China (24%). From the long-term view, the positive attitude of Czech people to other countries have a rising tendency.

Speeking about politicians, Czech people like British Prime Minister Tony Blair (67% of respondents with positive attitude), French President Jacques Chirac (65%) and German Chancellor Angela Merkel (62%). The least popular politicians are Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi (34%), Russian President Vladimir Putin (31%) and American President George W. Bush (29%).

The European Association for the Study of Obesity (EASO) came with an interesting study showing what countries of the European Union have the most overweight men and women. The ‘fattest’ nation is Germany but Czech people are not so far behind in the rank. The thinnest Europeans live in Italy and France.

Czech men are in the second position from all the EU countries. 73.2 % of Czech men suffer from overweight or even obesity. Czech women are in the fourth position after women from Germany, United Kingdom and Cyprus. 57.6 % of Czech women suffer from overweight or obesity.

Doctors claim that overweight and obesity are caused by the lack of physical activities and excess of food. Both German and Czech people are known for their high consumption of beer that gives a lot of calories. Doctors are now discussing the problem on the 15th European Congress on Obesity in Budapest (22nd – 25th April 2007).

Prague hospital Motol is known for its top modern equiptment and its lab for research of stem cells, the only lab of this kind in the Czech Republic. Now the hospital can be proud of another operation that safed a human life. This operation on a cervical backbone (‘neck part’) was unique in the world.

Dusan Matras (27) used to have a tumour in his thyroid gland that was surgically removed. But five years later doctors discovered that he had a small tumour in his cervical backbone. The only option was to remove the second vertebra of his cervical backbone. The second vertebra is the most complicated vertebra in the spine and it’s very risky to operate on it.

The operation took 11 hours and it was very successful. Now Dusan Matras can even move his head, which is quite extraordinary.

For the first time since the foundation of the Czech Republic in 1993 there were more people born than people who died last year. 105,800 children were born and 104,400 people died. At the end of 2006 there were 10,287,189 people living in the Czech Republic.

12,530 children were born in Prague last year, which is about 600 babies more than year before. 12,274 Prague people died in 2006. 6841 couples got married in Prague, 3737 marriages were divorced. There are now 1,188,126 inhabitants in Prague.

The increased number of children is caused by the population explosion in the late 70’s. Women, who are now about 30 years old and who have studied or built their carrier, now decide to have a baby.

MF DNES together with professors at Charles University made a unique survey about the best places to live in the Czech Republic. Some of the results were a bit suprising. The best regions to live are the regions around Pardubice and Rychlov nad Kneznou, Prague was ranked the third. The worst place for living is in the north of Bohemia.

Prague has the highest average salary, high pensions, low unemployment, many entrepreneurs and top medical care. On the other hand, flats and rents in Prague are very expensive, the air is polluted and there are relatively many criminals and drug addicts.

The quality of live in Czech regions was evaluated according to 50 criteria, such as average salary, rate of unemployment, infant mortality, prices of real properties, number of schools, sport institutions, etc.