Concerns over long-term physical health of under-pressure workers
Work pressure is actually the worst and quite possibly life threatening as well. Several UK workers currently can’t leave the office during their lunch hour because of impending deadlines or that looming feel of doom that they’re behind on their work. And with all this stress combined with a sedentary lifestyle and lack of exercise, office workers are more at risk for Type 2 diabetes as well as heart disease. Told you it was life threatening.
But are workers so stressed out that they can’t even take a quick walk outside during lunch, even for a few minutes? Unfortunately, yes. But what’s to blame, really? Workplace culture, heavy workloads, and a dose of stress are to blame. And this is even with over 90% of workers saying that getting outside or exercising makes them more productive, more than 50% don’t leave the office during lunch or their coffee break to get some fresh air. It’s unfortunate, really. So how do we remedy this?
A new partnership between Diabetes UK, the British Heart Foundation, and Tesco is looking at ways to motivate professionals to get outside, even for a few minutes. And one potential way is an online motivational tool, called Let’s Do This, that gets people up and walking, in order to protect their wellbeing. With this tool, they set realistic, small goals in order to move more. It’s almost like a Fitbit but online and without the bulky device.
Even with all the documented reasons why even a ten minute walk in the park could help prevent type 2 diabetes and heart disease, we still find it difficult to move. So this new partnership, called The National Charity Partnership, is hoping these small goals will eventually lead to larger yet still attainable goals. The head of this partnership, Babs Evans, says that “Work-related stress puts a strain on your mental wellbeing and can have a knock-on effect on your physical health. People under too much stress at work are more likely to eat unhealthy and stop being active: behaviours which are linked to a number of health conditions….they are largely preventable and being active is an effective way to help reduce your risk”.
The brilliant new tool, Let’s Do This, is a great motivator to help professionals set realistic goals they can achieve during a seemingly daunting work day and even by achieving these goals will help decrease stress levels. And we all know, decreasing your stress will help you shine just a little brighter in front of your boss. The cycle may never be able to be broken but at least The National Charity Parternship is helping make it a little bit more manageable.
