Walk to Work Day 2019: 12 steps to getting active in your workplace

Now that might sound daunting – only around 60 per cent of adults do that much – but it’s only 30 minutes a day Monday to Friday. If you break that down to just three 10-minute slots a day, you should be able to fit it into even the most meeting-packed schedule.

Some people like to count steps – 10,000 is the magic number. It began life in Japan in 1965 as a slogan for a pedometer to get people excited about walking. When the step craze hit the USA in the early 90s, 10,000-steps became the accepted target for good health. Various studies have since backed up the claim – after all, it equates to walking about five miles a day.

This Friday is National Walk to Work Day, an event which aims to help us ditch our cars and enjoy a stroll to work instead. To mark the occasion, Dr Ieva Martinaityte, a lecturer at the Norwich Business School and an expert in workplace creativity, has some useful tips on how to incorporate exercise into your working day, make walking part of your routine and turn it into a positive habit.

• If you can, walk to work – it’s sometimes the easiest way to build exercise into your routine
• Invite colleagues for walking meetings, particularly if you want to generate new ideas
• If you are a mentor, invite your mentees for a walk – walking encourages conversation
• Be spontaneous – if you need an energy or brain boost, go for a brisk 15-30 minute walk
• If you don’t like walking, simply do more of the physical activities you already enjoy.

We’ve also collected the following twelve ideas to ‘hack your routine’, so you walk more from colleagues on the Norwich Research Park:

Healthy living links

• For more information on wellbeing at work and healthy living, check out this UEA research: https://worklifeapp.whatworkswellbeing.org/
• Urban hiking is popular among millenials, and if it works in Tooting, it can certainly work in Norfolk. Just check out these inspiring trails: https://www.norfolk.gov.uk/out-and-about-in-norfolk/norfolk-trails/12-brilliant-walks-in-norfolk

Where’s your favourite place for walking to work? Tweet us your pictures and join the conversation @TechCorridorUK – using the hashtag #TechCorridorWalks