Stepping in right direction on health

WITH nearly 400,000 participants and more than 200 billion steps registered, a Cquniversity program has become one of the most successful health programs in Australia.

The 10,000 Steps program is a self-monitoring physical activity program encouraging participants to take 10,000 steps each day.

Cquniversity researcher and program leader Professor Corneel Vandelanotte says that since its development in 2001, 10,000 Steps has directly affected public health both in Australia and around the world.

“About half of the Queensland population is not active enough to achieve health benefits, and physical inactivity accounts for 5 per cent of the burden of disease,” Professor Vandelanotte said.

“Increasing physical activity is therefore an important public health objective as it reduces the risk of developing cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, some cancers and mental ill-health,” he says.

“Through 10,000 Steps we have achieved huge impacts upon societal health and wellbeing with close to 400,000 people and more than 13,500 organisations having participated in the project, logging an average of 39 million steps per day, resulting in increased physical activity.”

Prof Vandelanotte said 10,000 Steps members who took part in the Workplace Challenge were found to increase their physical activity levels by an average of 159 minutes a week.

“(Participants are) significantly reducing their likelihood of developing cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, some cancer, obesity, osteoporosis, and depression,” he said.