18.09.13
A small step
A smart public health idea with some evidence behind it? Always keen to hear about those.
An initiative called StepJockey, backed by the Department of Health via the Small Business Research Initiative, is boosting public fitness in a small but measureable way by showing office workers how many calories they’ll burn by climbing each set of stairs in their building.
The company says that in trials involving more than 250,000 stair/lift journeys, stair climbing increased by up to 29% when the building was equipped with ‘smart signs’, which give specific calorie-burning information for that particular set of stairs. There’s also an associated app so office workers can track and ‘gamify’ stair climbing, which apparently prompts a 500% jump in stair climbing.
The director of public health in Hertfordshire, Jim McManus, is an enthusiastic backer of the idea, saying it will also cut the costs and carbon associated with lift journeys.
It’s a small nudge, but when scaled up, could have a real impact.
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