May Is National Walking Month

This month is National Walking Month – so for the rest of the May, why not put your best foot forward?

Walking boosts productivity, enhances mood and reduces feelings of stress – so walking to work or taking a lunchtime stroll is a no-brainer!

One fun idea to get your colleagues on their feet is to set up a Food Exclusion zone (FEZ).

Here’s how it works:

STEP ONE. Print a large-scale map of the area you work in, and draw a circle representing a one-mile radius around your office. This is your FEZ – and you’re not allowed to buy lunch anywhere within it for the rest of the month. The shops around the corner are banned!

STEP TWO. Pin the map up in a prominent place – the kitchen is a good location.

STEP THREE. Let all of the staff know about the FEZ challenge by sending out an email.

STEP FOUR. Encourage everyone to put small coloured dots (stickers are ideal) on the map to mark the good food places they discover on their lunchtime walks

If your lunch break is too short for the FEZ challenge to work, trying walking to the office in the morning instead. It might not be practical to walk the whole distance, but you can skip a bus stop or park your car further away to add in 20 minutes walking before or after work (or both).

The average Brit spends a whopping £1,000 a year on transport costs, so you’ll start cutting these too. And you’ll be amazed at how far you can walk in the time it takes for a car or bus to weave through rush hour traffic!

For more inspiration to get walking, visit the Living Streets website.