Active Businesses – Comprehensive practice led survey on health and physical activity promotion in businesses

Tuesday 12 November 2019

A 2017 Eurostat survey shows that four out of ten people in Europe carry out their work mainly while sitting.

The WHO (World Health Organization) underlines how “ Sedentary lifestyles increase all causes of mortality, double the risk of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and obesity, and increase the risks of colon cancer, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, lipid disorders, depression and anxiety”

In this discouraging scenario, the Active Businesses project is being introduced, which deals with the problem in an innovative way in order to:

Identifying current situation in relation to the health promoting programs based on physical activities and healthy lifestyle in businesses

Recognising needs and possibilities of businesses to implement health promoting programs based on physical activity and healthy lifestyle into corporate management

Understanding country-specific experiences on the development of practical tools, instruments and approaches

Acquiring new findings and knowledge based on the implementation of program in practice

Creating a flexible model of health promotion programs based on physical activity and healthy lifestyles, suitable for different needs of businesses in different EU countries

Examining the possibilities of transfer of solutions from one environment to another

Since the beginning of 2018, dozens of companies have been involved throughout Europe that have become objects of study but also protagonists of experimentation and change. In fact participants are involved in company moments dedicated to physical activity, 10 minutes of easily reproducible exercises in the office to increase well-being and individual health conditions.

In Palermo, businesses can participate in local sporting events by combining healthy living habits and more active participation in the city’s cultural initiatives.

The next meeting of the partners will be hosted in March in Turkey by the LIDOSK organization to compare experiences and opinions. In companies A model of physical activity that can be adapted to different European contexts is defined.