We’re moving into the last week of the #WeActiveChallenge which has encouraged so many of us to have fun and get active – and then share the results on social media.
I think that what makes this campaign so effective is that we all support each other, with a little bit of healthy competition to inspire people to do more than they otherwise would. I’m going to miss it and I know a lot of you will too.
We all know that keeping up the momentum after a challenge like this is often the hard bit so, here is something to help you keep going.
Active10, the new One You campaign from Public Health England, encourages adults across the country to get more active by building just 10 minutes of brisk walking into their daily lives.
Modern day life often makes it hard to be healthy, so it’s not surprising that most of us and the people we work with are not fitting enough physical activity into our days. Sitting down at work and commuting by car or public transport means we’re not active for a lot of the working day. On top of this, technology allows us to shop and stay in touch without ever having to leave the sofa.
However, a brisk ten minute walk can make a huge difference to your health - it gets the heart pumping faster, can make you feel better, more energetic and improve your mood. Over time, brisk walking can help to lower the risk of serious illnesses like heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
The One You campaign is encouraging adults to start improving their health by walking briskly for 10 minutes each day.
If you’re looking for help why not download the free ‘Active 10’ app? It shows how much brisk walking you’re doing, when you can increase your pace and how you can fit more brisk walking into your day. It also sets goals and provides hints and tips to keep you going.
50,000 people have already downloaded the app and are on their way to a healthier lifestyle, so why not join them? I have!
Hopefully you can benefit from this and use your own good habits to support making every contact count (MECC) conversations with your clients and colleagues. Making Every Contact Count is an approach to behaviour change that utilises the millions of day-to-day interactions that organisations and people have with other people to support them in making positive changes to their physical and mental health and wellbeing. There is lots of free e-learning on MECC.
Rather than telling people what to do, Making Every Contact Count is about recognising opportunities to talk to people about their wellbeing using the skills of asking and listening. These conversations with health care professionals increase the likelihood that someone will change their lifestyle for the better.
The All Our Health Framework gives a brief overview of the evidence and guidance to help healthcare professionals embed physical activity into their conversations and the Everyday Interactions Toolkit has a physical activity impact pathway intended to support health care professionals to measure this impact of the conversations they have about physical activity.
So let’s keep up the momentum for our own benefit and that of the people we work with.
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