Loreto Clonmel student Tirna Brown was motivated by Healthfest event

Loreto secondary school Transition Year student Tirna Brown says she was motivated to look after her health having attended the nationwide and online Healthfest event, organised by the National Dairy Council earlier this year.

HealthFest is a free event tailored to teenagers, which has successfully run for five years. 

It is the only event of its kind, featuring experts in the areas of physical activity, nutrition and mental wellbeing.

Here, Tirna Brown, who was one of over 8,000 attendees, discusses the event -

The host of the Healthfest was Doireann Garrihy, who did an outstanding job hosting the online festival and interviewing the guests, who were Greg O’Shea, Professor Niall Moyna, Dr Caoileann Murphy, Paul Gilligan and Dermot Whelan. 

The three topics related to health that were talked about were healthy body, healthy diet and healthy mind.

The two guests who spoke in the healthy body section were Greg O’Shea and Professor Niall Moyna. 

Greg O’Shea is a professional rugby sevens player and in the Healthfest he did a workout and encouraged us all to participate. 

Professor Niall Moyna is the Head of Human Performance in DCU and he had the first interview with Doireann Garrihy. He spoke about the benefits of exercise and how regularly we should be exercising. 

The guest who spoke in the healthy diet section was Dr Caoileann Murphy. 

Dr Murphy is a registered dietitian and spoke about all of the foods in the different sections of the food pyramid and what foods are good and bad for you. 

Dr Murphy also talked about post sporting matches and post workout meals, and what benefits you get out of certain foods that you may think are bad for you. 

The two guests who spoke in the healthy mind section were Paul Gilligan and Dermot Whelan. 

Paul Gilligan is the chief executive of St Patrick’s Mental Health Services and he spoke about mental health. 

He explained how mental and physical health are associated with each other and what benefits we receive for looking after our mental health. 

Dermot Whelan is a broadcaster and meditation expert. He spoke about the positive outcome we receive by meditating and he also did some meditation with us to try at home.

Throughout the Healthfest there was a scavenger hunt and we could also visit an exhibition hall. 

The exhibitions that were in the exhibition hall were Avonmore Protein Milk, Bodywhys, Carbery Cracker, CareersPortal.ie, Clóna Dairy Products, National Dairy Council, Sport Institute Ireland, SpunOut.ie, The Shona Project and Walk In My Shoes. 

Doireann Garrihy finished the Healthfest with a closing speech.

I really enjoyed the workshop and I thanked the TY coordinator for telling us about it. 

I learned a lot from the workshop and it has motivated me to look after my health.

For more Tipperary news see Vaccination centre is now open at the Clonmel Park Hotel