Get On Your Feet!

**This post has been updated for 2017.

Get Britain Standing organise the On Your Feet Britain campaign which is taking place on the 28th April this year. At Kent-Teach we spend most of the day at our desks so we are joining in with the campaign to get healthy by moving more and sitting less.

According to Get Britain Standing on average Britons sit for 8.9 hours each day and research has suggested sitting is still bad for you even if you do 30 minutes of exercise a day. Recent research shows that standing up at work can boost productivity by 46%. 

A study on almost 800,000 people found that people who sat the longest compared to people who sat the least had: 

• 112% increase in risk of diabetes

• 147% increase in cardiovascular events

• 90% increase in death caused by cardiovascular events

• 49% increase in death from any cause

To get healthy in the workplace Kent-Teach are pledging to do the following activities in order to get on our feet:

1. Park at the furthest parking space possible or walk from bus/train station

2. Take a short break away from your computer every hour e.g. make a drink

3. Stand and move feet during phone calls and talking to colleagues

4. Have standing or walking 1:1 meetings

5. Use the toilets furthest away from your desk 

6. Eat your lunch outside/away from your desk

7. Go for a brisk 20-minute walk at lunchtime

8. Walk around the building once if you’ve not done 3 of the above by 2pm.

You can download our activity chart to start your own On Your Feet Week at home or at work.

We also need to think about how we can move more when we get home from work. 

Give these ideas a go:

• Go for an evening walk after dinner

• Alternate standing and sitting when reading a book or magazine

• Run on the spot or do some jumping jacks or burpees every time there is an ad break on TV. See how many you can do!

How are you going to get on your feet more? Share your ideas with us!