We all know that too much sitting is unhealthy. Anyone who sits a lot at work should compensate for this and bring movement into their daily routine. Why is it so difficult to put this knowledge into practice? The biggest motivation killer is unrealistic goals. So here’s some good news for motivation: just 30 minutes of activity a day has a positive effect on health promotion and prevention. Here we present these motivating scientific findings and the features of the Changers CO2 Fit app that will help you turn good intentions into good habits.
But first, a brief definition of what prevention even means:
What does prevention mean?
In health care, prevention is a generic term for targeted measures and activities to prevent diseases or damage to health, to reduce the risk of the disease or to delay its occurrence. Preventive measures can be classified as primary, secondary or tertiary prevention according to the time at which they are implemented. Furthermore, preventive measures can be differentiated with regard to whether they address individual behavior (behavioral prevention) or living conditions (situational prevention).
Source: Federal Ministry of Health
7,000 steps to health promotion and prevention.
This article is mainly about behavioral prevention, what you can do for health promotion and prevention through your own behavior. If you want to get more exercise into your daily routine, you probably already use an app to count your daily steps. This popular feature is of course also part of our Changers CO2 Fit app. However, with modern motion tag technology, we not only measure steps, but every type of movement automatically. In addition to showing steps and bike miles, total activity time is also recorded on a daily basis.
But how useful is counting steps or measuring active time per day really? Does cycling to work or taking a walk during the lunch break really have a demonstrable positive impact on health and is therefore important for the prevention of diseases?
A large-scale American cross-sectional study has investigated precisely this question. The analysis of various studies comes to a clear conclusion: exercise is the simplest means of promoting health. The WHO recommends 150 to 300 minutes of moderate exercise per week. This is also in line with the findings of a British study, which states that about 30 to 40 minutes, or about 7,000 to 9,000 steps per day, is beneficial to health. More, of course, will do the trick. But it’s good for motivation to know that just 30 minutes of brisk walking a day is enough to be demonstrably healthier. In concrete terms, this means that from just 7,000 steps per day, the risk of suffering a cardiovascular disease is reduced by 10 percent, and by a further 10 percent with each additional 2,000 steps. Another study shows the positive influence on the risk of metabolic disease. Just 7,000 steps a day over a period of 6 years reduced the risk of disease by 29 percent.
Cycling to work good for health promotion
There is also a study on the positive influence of cycling on health. Cambridge University and Imperial College London have evaluated the figures of 300,000 commuters and can thus prove: People who cycle to work instead of driving have a 20 percent lower early mortality rate. For example, the risk of dying from cardiovascular diseases is 24 percent lower for cyclists than for car drivers. And the risk of dying from cancer is 16 percent lower, according to the study.
Nudging and other aids to motivation
If you are now motivated to get more exercise into your everyday life, you should directly consider how this can best be implemented in concrete terms. Which day is suitable for walking to work? Or would it be better to get off one stop earlier on the way to and from work by public transport? Or can you even cycle to work instead of taking the car or train? It’s not always easy to let go of old habits and it takes time for new behavior to become a habit. The Changers app helps you with this with a friendly reminder called nudging. Here you can set when you want to be reminded to walk a stop or bike to work. You can set personal goals for “Active Time” and “Steps.” And you’ll be rewarded with badges when you reach larger stages.
Just do it! You can do it with the Changers app. We look forward to reading about your progress in the community.
Your motivational helpers of the Changers app
Health promotion and prevention with
- automatic motion measurement through modern motion tag technology
- Nudging – friendly memories
- Pedometer
- Display of the active time
- Badges for milestones
- Coins to exchange for rewards
- Tree planting for climate-friendly locomotion
- a community for support
See how creative cities are getting to motivate more exercise HERE.
Sources
Bundesministerium für Gesundheit
Artikel zum Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee
Studie „Daily Step Counts for Measuring Physical Activity Exposure and Its Relation to Health”
Pendlerstudie zeigt: Nichts ist gesünder, als mit dem Rad zur Arbeit zu fahren
WHO Empfehlung
