If there is a magic marketing scheme or program to induce greater levels of physical activity for all children and adolescents, it will likely be found in the same location as the fountain of youth.  More likely, we will increase physical activity levels through the convergence of several messages and signals about the importance of exercise.  Those messages may come from a variety of sources, including parents, siblings, friends, television, the internet, etc.

Activity habits begin at an early age, so the messages from parents can be critical.  Active parents = active kids.  But how to get busy working parents more active when they already feel strapped for time?

On September 13th, I had the opportunity to attend an event that holds great promise for increasing physical activity rates among employees and, in turn, changing the message that the children of employees are receiving from their parents about the importance of physical activity.

The CEO Pledge, a key component of the country’s first-ever National Physical Activity Plan, was launched at the HERO Forum in Phoenix, Arizona—the annual conference of the Health Enhancement Research Organization that draws a large audience of professionals committed to the improvement of employee health management. Chief Executive Officers who take the pledge will vow to improve employee health and wellness by producing opportunities and resources for physical activity before, during, or after the workday.

“The National Physical Activity Plan is inspiring action by leaders from multiple disciplines, creating an historic movement to increase physical activity among all Americans,” said Dave Pickering, a strategy leader for the Plan and CEO of Preventure. “Today, the CEOs of America’s businesses—both large and small—were asked to pledge their commitment to the betterment of their companies and employees, and to become part of the solution to our nation’s health care challenges.”

The text of the pledge reads:
For the betterment of my company, our employees, their families, and our country, I pledge to improve employee health and wellness by providing opportunities and resources for physical activity before, during or after the workday.

CEOs who take the pledge will be encouraged to share best practices to help create a national culture of physical activity supported by worksites.

Notably, the launch of the CEO Pledge occurred on the heels of research by Church et al. asserting that Americans are now far less active at the worksite than in previous decades.  Proponents of the Pledge are quick to point to the business benefits of a more physically active workforce. 

The CEO Pledge is also good for families.  We know that physically active moms and dads can have a heavy influence on the activity levels of their kids.  And we know that physically active kids can influence their parents, creating a wonderfully reinforcing environment for healthy lifestyles.

Do you know of a CEO that might be willing to sign the CEO Pledge? 

Safe and effective places for physical activity - such as bike paths, green space and fitness centers - are only half of the equation when it comes to establishing an active community culture. The other half is creating opportunities for community members to take advantage of the active infrastructure. And creating those opportunities, at a time when sedentary forces are overwhelming our cultural norms, is largely a function of policymaking.

There's a role, of course, for national/state/local policymakers, but there is also an emerging, and very encouraging consensus that worksite policies promoting physical activity are critical to building healthier communities.

A recent study published by the PLoS One Journal underscored the importance of worksite policies encouraging physical activity and drew a direct connection to the obesity epidemic. The study found that "over the last 50 years in the U.S. we estimate that daily occupation-related energy expenditure has decreased by more than 100 calories, and this reduction in energy expenditure accounts for a significant portion of the increase in mean U.S. body weights for women and men."

In other words, we've become less active at work and the decrease in activity has had a measurable impact on our nation's obesity rate.

Barbara E. Ainsworth, the president-elect of the American College of Sports Medicine and an exercise researcher at Arizona State University, described the findings as a "lightbulb, 'aha' moment."

"I think occupational activity is part of that missing puzzle that is so difficult to measure, and is probably contributing to the inactivity and creeping obesity that we're seeing over time," added Ainsworth.

Fortunately, it appears that corporate America is tightening its embrace of the benefits of a physically fit workforce. The Washington Post, for example, recently reported on a Mercer study finding that the "number of companies with 20,000 or more employees that provided fitness centers, subsidies or discounts grew by 11 percent from a year earlier." The same article noted that a survey by the Society for Human Resource Management found that "the proportion of companies offering gym benefits has held steady since 2007. During the same period, many employers were paring retirement and other financial benefits because of the recession."

As has been discussed in previous posts, the National Physical Activity Plan is leading the movement toward a more physically active nation, with a particular focus on harnessing the power of the business and industry sectors to transform the health of our communities and nation's approach to wellness. In the coming months, the National Plan is expected to generate a CEO Pledge for executives dedicated to providing physical activity opportunities for employees, as well as best practices resources for creating an organizational environment that supports physical activity. I look forward to providing updates in this space as they become available.

In the meantime, I'd love to hear from folks who have implemented corporate physical activity programs. What's worked? What hasn't?

Photo credit: D Sharon Pruitt

Policy...isn't that something that only the “wonks” of the world think about? You know the type...they run around quoting combos of letters and numbers like HB123 or SB567...or preaching that ABC policy will mean XYZ to the local community.  The reality is that, according to Wikipedia, “shaping public policy is a complex and multifaceted process that involves the interplay of numerous individuals and interest groups competing and collaborating to influence policymakers to act in a particular way.”

Many individuals never give much thought to how ideas become laws or policies nor do they think that they can help affect change in areas that they are passionate about. The truth of the matter is that while the “wonks” are an integral part of turning ideas into policy, in most cases, it really does take a whole cast of characters to affect change including both organized groups and individual citizens.

The nations' first Physical Activity Plan that was introduced in May has been described as “policy based” but what does that really mean? Under the leadership of the, National Coalition for Promoting Physical Activity a broad array of groups have formed an NPAP implementation team to work on converting the strategies and tactics included in the NPAP into local, state and federal policies that help Americans to meet the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans.

Let's look at an example....take Safe Routes to School. According to the Safe Routes to School National Partnership, SRTS programs work to insure that communities put policies into place that make it safe for children to walk or bicycle to school thus increasing the amount of physical activity in their day. The NPAP consists of eight different sectors including Education and Transportation/Active Living. Under the tactics listed for one of the education strategies is: “Support SRTS efforts to increase active transportation to and from school and support accommodations for children with disabilities.” Under the Transportation and Active Living Sector there are tactics related to SRTS such as, “support annual reporting by all schools of their transportation mode split” and “expand safe routes” initiatives at national, state, county and local levels to enable safe walking and biking routes to a variety of destinations especially to schools.”

My personal hope is that the concept of “Safe Routes” can be expanded to include community places such as parks, Y's, libraries, retail areas, etc. Imagine being able to have your children or yourselves be able to safely ride their bike or walk to the library....the benefits are endless to such a concept reaching beyond the obvious of increasing physical activity to include such things as reducing the amount of emissions in the air.

Would you like to see “Safe Routes” expanded to include other community places? What do you see the as the benefits and the challenges of this type of expansion?