www.irishheart.ie

ORGANISING THEIRISH HEART FOUNDATION’S

STEP CHALLENGE

www.irishheart.iewww.irishheart.iewww.irishheart.ie

Irish Heart Foundation50 Ringsend Road, Dublin 4.D04 T6X0Phone: +353 1 668 5001Fax: +353 1 668 5896Email: info@irishheart.ie

Heart and Stroke Helpline: Locall 1890 432 787Monday to Friday 10am to 5pm

Web:www.irishheart.iewww.stroke.ie

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WHAT IS THE NEXT STEP?

If your company is interested in the Step Challenge, contact the Health Promotion Department on 01 668 5001 for more information. Once you sign up you will be supplied with the following:

■ Promotional posters

■ Step Challenge cards for all participants

■ A sample questionnaire

■ A PAR-Q medical screening questionnaire (this or a version of it should be completed by all participants prior to taking part)

■ Heart health information leafl ets (e.g. leafl ets on physical activity, weight loss, healthy eating etc.)

■ Achievement certifi cates for all those who complete the Challenge

■ Telephone support and follow up advice to the co-ordinator of the programme

What is the Walk Challenge?

The Walk Challenge encourages employees to build up to the recommended 30 minutes or more of moderate intensity physical activity fi ve days a week, in their own time, such as walking or jogging during lunch or walking to and from work. Each employee receives a walking diary card to record their minutes of activity and a certifi cate of achievement on completion. The Walk Challenge calculates time spent walking, while the Step Challenge calculates steps taken. The Walk Challenge does not require pedometers.

Active@Work Award

The Step or Walk Challenge can form part of the criteria for the Irish Heart Foundation’s Active@Work Award. The Award is formal recognition of your company’s eff orts and achievements in implementing programmes in your organisation to encourage employees to be more active. To get your Active@Work guide see www.irishheart.ie or telephone 01-6685001.

OTHER IRISH HEART FOUNDATION WORKPLACE PROGRAMMES

■ Slí@Work programme

■ Happy Heart Healthy Eating Award

■ Heart Health Checks

■ Mini Health Checks

PEDOMETERS

Pedometers are motivational tools that count each step a person takes by detecting the motion of their hips. When a person strides or makes movements, the balance of a device on the pedometer is disturbed enough to make sensors count a step. So, continuous movement will keep the device counting.

When promoting the Step Challenge it’s important to emphasise that aerobic activity, such as a brisk walk, must be included to build up to the 10,000 steps. By being active for at least 30 minutes fi ve days a week, the risk of heart disease, stroke and obesity is reduced. If the 30 minutes cannot be done in one single session, the minutes can be broken down into 10 minutes sessions or more.

ACCURACY OF PEDOMETERS

Most pedometers are reasonably accurate at a walking pace on a fl at surface if the device is placed in its optimal position (usually a belt clip). If it is placed in a individual’s pocket or handbag, accuracy is dramatically reduced.

FAQs

How many kilometres are equivalent to 10,000 steps?

Walking 10,000 steps is approximately 8 km (5 miles).

Can the pedometer record how fi t I am?

No, the pedometer records steps only.

How do I know if my pedometer is recording my steps properly?

Please follow the manufacturer’s instructions when using your pedometer for the fi rst time.

Can the pedometer record other activities such as cycling or running?

No, the pedometer does not record other activities accurately. You can however convert other activities to its equivalent number of steps using the following formula:10 minutes of moderate intensity activity = 1,000 steps 10 minutes of vigorous intensity activity = 2,000 steps

MODERATE INTENSITY VIGOROUS INTENSITY

Causes a slight but noticeable increase in breathing and heart rate. You should be able to maintain a conversation

Makes you “ huff and puff ”, conversation is diffi cult

Brisk walking, swimming, cycling, rowing, dancing

Aerobics, brisk rowing, fast cycling, jogging, competitive sport e.g. squash, football, tennis

MOVING MORE AT WORK

The Step Challenge encourages accumulated activity, such as stair climbing and walking. Using a pedometer, employees are encouraged to build up to at least 10,000 steps daily and more, all of which can be done at work, at home and at leisure. Employees record the number of steps taken each day in the Irish Heart Foundation diary card, which encourages on-going motivation.

WHAT WILL THE STEP CHALLENGE DO FOR EMPLOYEES?

■ Increase awareness and levels of physical activity

■ Motivate employees who are not very active to become more active

■ Motivate employees to change behaviour and adopt positive lifestyle choices related to physical activity

■ Encourage accumulated activity throughout the day

■ Create more fun, chat and social interaction between employees

WHY DO EMPLOYEES SIGN UP TO THE CHALLENGE?

The most common reasons employees sign up to this Challenge are fun, fi tness, to lose weight and most importantly because it’s organised by the workplace.

STEP UP TO THE CHALLENGEImplementing the Irish Heart Foundation’s Step Challenge over four to fi ve

weeks can be done by your organisation at low cost. The Step Challenge

encourages employees to be more active but more importantly it’s fun and

creates healthy competition between employees. Employees also get the

support of other colleagues and are therefore more motivated to become active.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

■ Ask employees if they are interested in doing the Step Challenge. This can be done through questionnaires, informal discussions or suggestion boxes.

■ Decide whether you want employees to do a ‘virtual’ Challenge, by walking the equivalent number of steps of a particular mountain or walkway, or if you want them to do their own Challenge with weekly targets. Most organisations undertake the ‘virtual’ Challenge, as it creates more fun and competition.

■ If doing team Challenges, divide into teams of fi ve, or less if your company is smaller.

■ Ask employees to support their colleagues who are not as active to join the Challenge.

■ Teams can be picked at random or self-assigned. Each team will nominate a team captain who will total the number of steps taken each week, and will motivate other team members to be more active. The steps can be logged in an excel sheet and saved on your computer system.

■ If some employees in your workplace are very active, you might consider setting them diff erent targets, so that people

who are very inactive are not competing against them. Similarly, employees who want to do the Challenge on their own rather than be part of a team should be permitted to do so.

■ The teams choose a name for their team.

■ Each week the teams’ progress can be displayed in a league table to generate some buzz and competition. You may have an intranet or somewhere on your network that may be suitable to post this information. Include the teams’ progress on emails, ezines, newsletters.

■ Each week employee’s individual steps goes towards their team’s total.

■ The team with the most steps at the end of the four – fi ve weeks is declared the winner. It’s even better if an individual does more than 10,000 steps and means they contribute extra steps towards their team’s total.

■ Each week the company coordinator should encourage employees to stay motivated by sending an email of encouragement. This can include an interesting fact about physical activity, healthy eating, blood pressure or cholesterol.

■ Set up an Active@Work team and nominate a coordinator to manage the Step Challenge programme.

■ Get management to support your programme and become involved in the diff erent activities.

■ Ensure employees are included in the planning of the programme. Promote it so that you are encouraging maximum uptake and consider what might motivate your workforce to be more active. For example, men are more inclined to sign up to the Challenge if it is promoted as a trek or climb as it implies a greater Challenge.

■ Conduct a survey. It’s always a good idea to record some baseline information on physical activity levels activity in your company. Consider doing pre and post questionnaires – See insert 2 of the Active@Work pack for a copy of a pre-questionnaire.

■ Ask employees to complete the PAR-Q (Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire) form which asks questions about their health and whether they should seek further advice from their doctor on becoming more active. See insert 3 of the Active@Work pack for a sample questionnaire.

■ Advertise your programme at least three weeks in advance, so that all employees are aware of the programme’s start and fi nish date.

■ Have a registration day whereby all employees, including shift-workers can sign up. Ask senior management to attend.

■ Give pedometers to employees a few days in advance of the Challenge. Employees can get used to wearing them and will remember to put them on fi rst thing in the morning.

■ Assign a team captain to each team and get them to log their team’s steps.

■ Email employees the diff erent ways they can accumulate steps i.e. walking to colleagues’ desks instead of emailing, having walking meetings, getting off the bus or luas one or two stops earlier. Map out some walking routes around your workplace and the equivalent number of steps.

■ Post stories, pictures, targets in newsletters, ezines, intranet or other forms of communication available.

■ Send reminder emails each week with words of encouragement and motivation.

SOME RECOMMENDATIONS:

Week 1 Target: Matterhorn & more i.e. 60,000 steps (actual height is 14,692 feet)

Week 2 Target: Mt Blanc & more i.e. 70,000 steps (actual height is 15,774 feet)

Week 3 Target: Kilimanjaro & more i.e. 80,000 steps (actual height is 19,341 feet)

Week 4 Target: K2 Mountain & more i.e. 90,000 steps (actual height is 28,251 feet)

Week 5 Target: Mount Everest & more i.e. 100,000 steps! (actual height is 29,029 feet)

Examples of ‘virtual’ mountain Challenge

(Generally 1 foot of climbing = 2 steps. In order for this to be a greater challenge, more steps are added. Similarly, you can do your own ‘virtual’ Challenge by walking part of the Camino Way, walking to the moon or walking from your offi ce to your headquarters in another country.