Fit to drop

CABBIES it is possible to understand. All those hours spent sitting behind the wheel of a car, with no chance to get out and stretch your legs. Nurses even: long hours and stress, stress, stress. But why should hairstylists have been singled out as the third group most in need of a health awareness shot-in-the-arm?

Well, they do work long hours. And most of that time is spent standing: far more tiring than walking, as anyone who's tried it for more than a few minutes will know.

Clearly someone at the YMCA thinks they're in need of a bit more exercise. For the first time in its history, the Central YMCA Club in London is hosting a Health and Fitness Awareness Week this week. And its targets? Nurses, cabbies and stylists.

At the moment, the campaign is restricted to London - although spokesman Cameron Duncan admits it may go national in future. But a cabbie's still a cabbie whether he lives in London or York: and you won't find many people who'd dare to claim London nurses work harder than York ones.

The Londoners, of course, don't have the benefits of our glorious architecture, wonderful countryside and great Yorkshire fresh air to help them unwind. They have got the Dome, though, so who are they to complain?

The best way to find out whether York cabbies, nurses and stylists feel they would benefit from a healthier lifestyle is, naturally, to ask them. So we did.

The Nurse

Veronica Mackley is 42 and has been a nurse for 24 years. She's married, with three children aged 11, 14 and 16, and lives in Acomb.

As a senior sister at a community unit for elderly patients with dementia in Huntington, she's more of a manager than a hands-on nurse. But she still has a gruelling 37-and-a-half hour week - which usually works out much longer because, like all nurses, she feels a duty to her patients. You can't, she points out, just down tools and go home at 5pm. That's not how nursing works.

There are, she says, a surprisingly high number of nurses who smoke (she's not one of them) and for nurses working in the community like her, it can be difficult to eat a healthy lunch because there is no work canteen.

Caring for people with dementia can be stressful, she admits. One of her jobs as a senior nurse is to help to keep up morale, and act as a listening ear for younger staff.

When she gets home in the evenings, she's often shattered. She then has to cook for the family.

Three years ago, though, she took up running. Now she runs three times a week with the Knavesmire Harriers - usually about ten miles each time. It's made a huge difference to her life.

"I used to just sit and watch TV. You would feel really exhausted," she says. "Now I feel much fresher and I've got more energy. Running even helps me to unwind. If I've had a stressful day, when I go out for a run I'm able to mull it over in my mind. By the time I've finished the run, I've got a good idea what to do about the problem."

The Cabbie

Taxi driver Bill Caywood (left) has been driving his Hackney cab off and on for 11 years. He's 50, married with two grown-up children, and lives in Acomb.

He doesn't, he admits, lead the healthiest of lifestyles. Long hours stuck behind the wheel (6am to 3.30pm most days) with a meat pie snatched for lunch and a quick game of dominoes with his mates in between fares. Evening meals are often takeaways: neither he nor his wife are keen cooks.

He doesn't get much exercise, either. "I could do with it," he admits, "but I'm just not into it. I feel too tired after a day of work. If it's a choice between sitting down to watch Star Trek or going out running, well..."

He smokes - 20 a day, and a course of hypnotherapy failed to cure him of the habit - and likes to go to the pub with his friends. Usually about three times a week: five pints a night no problem.

Bill accepts he's not the fittest person in the world - "it would be good to be healthier and fitter. If I have to walk somewhere I know about it" - but is resigned, like most of us, to not doing much about it. "I'm just a tired git," he says, with a rueful grimace.

The Hair Stylist

Salon managers are touchy people. They don't like the suggestion that stylists lead unhealthy lives because of the long hours and the standing. One we approached declined to take part, saying "that's not the image we want".

One stylist in her twenties, who we agreed not to name, did admit though that it could be a gruelling profession. Most days, she said, she worked from 9am to 7pm. She gets two 40-minute breaks during the day: but that's still an awful lot of standing around. Some of her colleagues, she conceded, didn't bother to eat healthily, just grabbing a burger when they could. She eats tuna and salad sandwiches or jacket potatoes for lunch.

With such a gruelling day, she says, she takes pains to make sure she keeps in shape. That means going to the gym at least three times a week for a good workout. "That does make me feel a lot better and healthier." But not all her colleagues, she admits, do the same.

PICTURE: If I've had a stressful day, when I go out for a run I'm able to mull it over in my mind - Nurse Veronica Mackley