Member Article

Westfield Health partners with Living Streets for National Walking Month

Health and wellbeing company Westfield Health has continued its partnership with the UK’s walking charity for a second year running, with the launch of its Walking Lunch campaign for Living Streets’ National Walking Month.

The Sheffield based not-for-profit has kicked off the campaign, which invites teams and individuals to walk in their lunch breaks and log their steps on an online leaderboard, with a £15,000 donation to the charity.

Walking Lunch was launched with an exclusive video with campaign ambassador and walking enthusiast Carol Vorderman. Westfield Health’s online leaderboard is open to teams and individuals looking to reclaim their lunch breaks throughout the month of May, and get walking. Prizes are available for the most active, including £1,000 for an office wellbeing initiative, fitness trackers and vouchers to spend on walking gear.

Research conducted for the launch of Walking Lunch has found that almost four in 10 (37%) UK workers spend their lunch break eating at their desks. The findings also reveal that more than one in 10 skip their break altogether, despite over 40% saying they could fit a 20-minute walk into their lunch break, confirming that inactivity in the workplace is endemic.

Westfield Health is joining Living Streets in calling the nation to ‘#Try20’. Just 20 minutes of walking per day can improve physical and mental wellbeing, helping prevent obesity, heart disease and type 2 diabetes as well as combat stress.

David Capper, Commercial Director, Westfield Health, commented, “Our annual walking campaign has exploded over the last two years, starting primarily as an internal initiative and developing into a nationwide call to action with Walking Lunch in 2016 when we saw nearly 3,000 people walk 72 million steps.

“We are champions of health and wellbeing, and this campaign and partnership with Living Streets, as the nation’s champions for walking, is the perfect reflection of that. This year’s Walking Lunch campaign will be even bigger and better.”

Joe Irvin, Chief Executive, Living Streets, said: “For the second year, Westfield Health has supported our National Walking Month campaign, becoming our national partners. Through joining forces we have been able to promote the health benefits of walking and encourage people to #Try20 during May.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Walking Lunch .