Walking your way to
health and happiness
Interesting Point to make
• Why don’t we expand on this point
– Maybe to a sublevel?
• And maybe another
• And say something to tie it up
Dr Mark Tully & Dr Ruth Hunter
Centre of Excellence for Public Health
Centre for Public Health
School of Medicine, Dentistry & Biomedical Science
Benefits of Active Lifestyle
Deaths attributed to 19 leading factors,
by country income level
We do not get enough exercise
• 35% meet minimum criteria of 150 minutes of
moderate intensity activity per week
• 30% are totally inactive
Health Survey Northern Ireland (2010/11)
Overview
Do 7 things to reduce heart disease and cancer by 50%
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Do not smoke
Get 30 minutes of exercise or activity per day
Maintain a BMI between 20 and 26
Eat a Mediterranean diet (5+ colorful fruits and vegetables,
whole grains, and nuts per day, fish twice a week, and
olive oil)
Drink small to moderate amounts of alcohol (if they
drink)
Know and control blood pressure and cholesterol
levels
Unwind, be kind to yourself
How much activity
should I aim for?
Chief Medical Officer Recommends…
Everyone should aim to accumulate 150 mins
of moderate intensity activity per week
Pace faster than
normal, but not
breathless
30 mins
per day
Walking at
3-4mph
Why Walk?
Walking: the perfect exercise
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Mass participation
Safe
No cost
No training or special equipment
Overcomes embarrassment
Is it possible to change?
Exercise Groups:
• 30 mins brisk walking 3 days per week
• 30 mins brisk walking 5 days per week
Control group:
Were asked to maintain their habitual lifestyle
Results
3x week
5x week
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15% ↑ fitness
1kg ↓ weight
3cm ↓ waist
↓ blood pressure
2% reduction in 10yr
risk CHD
13% ↑ fitness
3cm ↓ waist
↓ blood pressure
0.2% reduction in 10yr
risk stroke
Active “ingredients”
• Self-monitoring
• Goal setting
• Social support
Aids to Motivate & Measure
Pedometers
Best Practice
• Set goal
• Record steps
• Monitor and share progress
• Review goals
Use to…
• Team challenge
• Climb Everest
• Play games
• Reward progress
http://www.wahlyz.com/Bagaman-CLMS_Pedometer_Games.pdf
http://www.choosetolivebetter.com
Workplace Pedometer Competition
Step Jockey
www.stepjockey.com
The Incentives
Complete 30 minutes
of physical activity
Collect 30 points
Cinema vouchers
Sandwich vouchers
Gym passes
Decathlon/Ice Bowl
Beauty vouchers
Keep getting active
and earning points
Earn rewards
Social Support
Off line
On line
Graphical representation of the
social network over the 12week intervention
Social interactions inferred by:
(1) time between card swipes; and,
(2) frequency of similar locations of
card swipes
Node = participant
Edges = when 2 participants swipe their card
within 30 second period
Thicker edge = more interactions
Size of node = no. of interactions
What are Queen’s doing?
Cost of not investing in workplace
health and wellbeing
4 x more likely
to lose talented
staff in next 12
months
9 x more sick
days per year
3 working days
per year are lost
due to
workplace
stress
30 days of lost
productivity per
year due to
time taken to
smoke at work
Thanks for Listening
Interesting Point to make
Dr Mark Tully
• Why don’t we expand on this point
Dr Ruth Hunter
– Maybe
a sublevel?
Lecturer
in to
Physical
Activity and
• And
maybe
another
Public
Health
Research Fellow
for Public Health
• AndCentre
say something
to tie it up
Centre for Public Health
Queen’s University Belfast
Queen’s University Belfast
Email: m.tully@qub.ac.uk
Twitter:@marktully_qub
Email: ruth.hunter@qub.ac.uk
Twitter: @Ruth_HunterQUB