Workplace Wellbeing Month – Get involved!
Some colleagues have just returned from Benidorm where they said it is more common to see able- bodied holiday makers trundling along on mobility motor scooters along the sea front, even around shops and hotels! I fear that in the near future this will become the norm’ and people will hire scooters to go zooming about on in their daily lives to avoid walking at all costs!
October is Workplace Wellbeing month; this could be the encouragement you need to get moving and do at least 10 minutes of brisk activity a day. I’m talking TEN minutes, we can all manage 10 minutes….
The trouble is, we love to sit: we sit at work, we sit in our car, we sit on the sofa, and then….we lay down in bed. On average, we sit down for10 hours a day!
Studies have shown that regularly sitting down at work for long periods of time are linked to:
- Being overweight or obese
- Type 2 Diabetes
- Some forms of cancer
- Premature death
- High Blood pressure
Our bodies react negatively to long periods of inactivity:
- Electrical activity in leg muscles shuts off
- Calorie burning drops to 1 per minute
- Enzymes that help break down fat drops 90%
- After two hours, good cholesterol drops 20%
- After 24 hours insulin effectiveness drops 24% which can increase the risk of developing diabetes
- People with seated jobs have twice the risk of developing cardio vascular disease as people who stand
The most common reason for people not to exercise is time, there is always time, it’s how you manage it. Research shows that Just 10 minutes a day can improve your health, mood, concentration, help with weight management and help you feel better about yourself.
you won’t get hot and sweaty and need a shower which is another barrier people say stops them from exercising during work hours, you can go on your own get colleagues together to go for a lunchtime walk. Perhaps you can walk to and from work? Take your dog out or borrow some one else’s? Walk the kids to and from school?
Whatever suits you; look at your day and there will be 10 minutes somewhere you can squeeze activity into…
Walking is free, you don’t have to spend a fortune on designer sports clothes and trainers, you just need a pair of comfy shoes.
As well as 10 minutes burst of activity we should also try to keep our bodies functioning properly throughout the day, every 45 minutes we should aim to;
- Get up and stretch
- When at work, choose the toilets the furthest away from your office
- Get up and talk to colleagues rather than email them
- Take a small glass of water to your desk rather than a large bottle
- Stand up when you’re on the phone
- At home, get up from the sofa and walk around the house or garden
- Put some elbow grease into the housework, gardening, cleaning and the car and other Daily activities
- If you drive to work, park your car at the furthest part of the car park
- Volunteer to make the tea/ coffee
- Get up and speak to colleagues rather than email them where possible
10 minutes once a day could expand to twice or three times a day, known as ‘exercise snacking’ splitting up the sessions throughout the day. Recently there has been lots of research which proves that this is really beneficial to our health.
If you are sceptical, give 10 minutes a day a go for October and see the difference it makes to you at the end of the month.
Enjoy!The fact that over half of adults in the UK don’t do a 10 minute brisk walk a month is shocking; we are designed to move and being sedentary is one of the worse things we can do for our health and wellbeing.
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