In today’s fast-paced world, physical activity has become a luxury that very few professionals can afford during office hours. The office worker’s life is dominated by sitting for extended periods, accounting for approximately 82% of a typical 9 to 5 workday.
This sedentary lifestyle has linked workers with a higher risk of developing detrimental health conditions, including heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, unhealthy body weight, and reduced life expectancy. Moreover, being physically inactive often correlates with poor sleep quality and an overall lower amount of life satisfaction – elements crucial for maintaining a productive workforce.
The issue at hand extends beyond individual health, impacting the broader working environment. Many companies find it challenging to implement impactful wellness programs that effectively reduce employee inactivity during work hours. Efforts such as awareness campaigns promoting the use of stairs, taking active breaks, and curtailing prolonged periods of sitting have only achieved marginal success in revamping sedentary office behavior.
Interestingly, a more effective method to motivate workers to move has been highlighted—office-wide fitness challenges. These competition-based programs offer a fresh shake-up of the corporate culture and have shown outstanding results.
The design is simple: colleagues team up, and together they aim to achieve a set fitness goal. This fitness goal could include achieving the greatest amount of steps taken or active minutes accumulated. The challenge spans from four to eight weeks, and uses digital tools to track data. Once the challenge concludes, the most active team wins the accolade.
Workplace dynamics plays a vital role in promoting and sustaining these programs. The more senior management embraces this change and encourages physical activity amid the workforce, the more successful the outcomes are likely to be. Implementing lunch-hour yoga sessions, endorsing active commuting, providing community bike share programs or gym discounts, and promoting walking meetings, desk workouts, and stair climbing initiatives are some methods that can foster an active working culture.
A considerable lure to fitness challenges is the prospect of heightened engagement with colleagues and the opportunity to participate in a non-work related activity. This interaction often extends beyond the physical activity, with teammates boosting morale with encouraging messages and planning group activities to achieve their collective fitness goals.
The outcomes are not only restricted to physical benefits but extend to substantial mental health gains as well. Exercise is known for enhancing mood, and apart from that, the active and supportive environment seems to have a positive impact on individuals. The simple act of wishing everyone to have a great day or teamwork in and off the fitness challenge can help foster a more wholesome work environment.
Regular participation in fitness challenges results in an overall increase in physical activity. However, whether the fitness trend continues post-challenge and translates into longer-term health benefits remains a subject for further investigation. Data shows that participating employees often manifest improvements in blood pressure, cholesterol levels, weekly physical activity, perceived stress, sleep, fatigue, blood sugar, and overall cardiovascular health which are sustained and often improved further by participating in subsequent challenges.
It is worth emphasizing that the employees who entered the fitness challenge with at least one cardiovascular risk factor showed the most health improvement. They added 100 minutes to their weekly exercise time and improved most of their health markers. Those categorized as the least fit increased their physical activity level five-fold and reported marked enhancements in sleep and stress management.
Therefore, corporate fitness challenges hold a promise of excellent return on investment, facilitating greater employee productivity, improved physical health, and enhanced mental well-being. Please note that individual health and fitness results can vary, and these holistic changes may not guarantee improved health for every participant. As always, such initiatives should be paired with a healthy lifestyle and diet.
