Friday, April 4, is Walk to Work Day,a national event that promotes the benefits of walking and encourages people to incorporate more physical activity into their daily routines.
To help businesses and organisations prepare for the day and to highlight the benefits of walking to work for staff, Hull City Council is providing the following advice.
Why is walking good for you?
According to Living Streets, the UK charity for everyday walking, just 10% of people walk to work in the UK and over a third don’t get enough physical activity.
Walking is a perfect form of exercise for all ages and abilities and offers lots of health and wellbeing benefits.
Here are just a few examples of the positive impacts walking to work has:
- Walking is a great form of exercise – it helps to burn calories, strengthen the heart and cardiovascular system, lower blood sugar, ease joint pain, boost the immune function and energy levels, improve mood and extend life.
Every minute of exercise counts. A simple walk to work and back can help keep people healthy and means they don’t eat into their spare time, as they have incorporated exercise as part of their normal daily routine.
Any walking is great, but brisk walking is most beneficial. The free NHS Active 10 app measures what counts as your own brisk pace, then clocks up the number of active minutes achieved per day.
To find and download the app, search ‘Active 10’ on the app store or Google Play.
- Walking is good for mental health – it is well documented that exercise has positive mental health benefits.
Physical activity causes chemical changes in the brain, such as the release of endorphins, which can positively change mood. This, in turn, can positively impact levels of motivation and self-esteem, boosting energy levels and, according to Living Streets, increasing productivity at work by up to 30%.
Walking can also help in becoming more mindful. By not driving or looking down at a screen on the bus or in a taxi, more attention can be paid to the things around us. By exploring the local area, people might find shortcuts, new sights and sounds or maybe even a new favourite walk, through nature.
Walking to work can also help people to feel less stressed by providing a moment to reflect and think, without the added pressure of the office or workplace surroundings, allowing time to organise the mind before the day starts.
How can employees be encouraged to walk more?
According to Living Streets, employers who encourage and support walking to and from work as well as in the workplace benefit from higher morale and job satisfaction among employees, a reduction in absenteeism, an enhanced corporate image and, ultimately, a return on investment, with a highly engaged workforce improving operating income by 19.2%.
A happy and healthy workforce is a productive one, with regular exercise seeing an overall work performance boost of about 15%.
Employers may wish to consider the following points to help incorporate walking into the working day and help their staff get more steps in:
- Make it accessible – consider the barriers employees could face to walking. If they live a long distance away and travel by car, perhaps they could be encouraged to use public transport, which in turn allows them to factor walking in, such as between stops and the office door.
Employers could also encourage staff to take a lunchtime walk. If a disability or chronic health issue is preventing someone from enjoying walking, you could test more accessible nearby routes.
- Encourage walking in the office – work to ensure that employees can go for a walk on their lunch break. To add a bit of healthy competition and incentive you could even introduce a step challenge with a small prize for the winner.
Smaller meetings or one-to-ones could also be done outside while on a walk.
Consideration should be made on how to support and encourage participation from members of staff who use wheelchairs or mobility aids.
To access resources that can help embed a culture of walking into the workplace, visit: www.livingstreets.org.uk/workplaces
- Provide walking facilities – there could be employees who want to walk more but can’t because of the weather. One idea could be to provide staff with umbrellas and sun protection if they would like to walk during inclement or hot weather.
Find out more about walking in Hull at: www.travelhull.co.uk/walk or, for more information about how to stay active, visit: www.livewellhull.org.uk
