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  • Reduce costs, improve resource efficiency
  • Reduce absence, improve productivity
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  • Re-thinking commuting
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  • Creating a healthy workplace
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• Reduce costs, improve resource efficiency
• Reduce absence, improve productivity
  • Reasons for inactivity
  • Costs of inactivity
  • Cars and casualties - driving to, from and for work
• Reduce carbon emissions, improve your reputation

Reasons for inactivity

66% of men and 69% of women would like to be more active. The most common reasons for not being physically active are:

• Work commitments (men 45% / women 34%)
• Lack of leisure time (men 38% / 37%)

Here are a few more startling facts:

• 21.8 million hours daily spent commuting in the UK
• 69% of commuters drive to work
• 24% of all car journeys are less than 2 miles (easily walked)
• 57% are less than 5 miles (easily cycled)
• We walk 198 miles per annum
• We drive 5811 miles per annum
• 24% adults in England obese
• 27 million people in UK don’t do enough exercise

So clearly our work commitments and the time we spend commuting are stopping us from looking after ourselves – and yet ironically we need to be healthy to handle the many demands of modern business. We lack time, so we tend to drive everywhere – even for short journeys – when probably walking or cycling would have been quicker and certainly healthier. The decline in healthier forms of transport such as cycling and walking is having adverse effects on our health and wellbeing.

In the UK, 65% of men and 76% of women aged over 16 are not sufficiently physically active to meet national minimum standards for maintaining health - that is at least 30 minutes on 5 or more days a week involved in moderately-intense activities (Source: National Institute of Clinical Excellence, May 2008 - PDF 257kb).