Participants in APHA’s Keep It Moving Challenge join virtual teams and track activities to boost health and well-being.
Photo by Kali9, courtesy iStockphoto
Whether it is with three or three dozen, coming together for physical activity can bring dividends, research shows.
APHA’s Keep It Moving Challenge helps people be healthy together. Launched Jan. 1, the free challenge encourages people to become and stay active. Participants track their steps and other physical activities and receive encouragement from teammates to keep at it. The challenge continues through April 13, the final day of APHA’s National Public Health Week.
“The challenge is an opportunity for everyone, no matter their fitness level, to join a supportive community focused on well-being,” MPH, Ursula Oguejiofor, APHA’s Affiliate affairs specialist, told The Nation’s Health. “Together, we can inspire healthier habits.”
Participants can download the free Keep It Moving Challenge app for their mobile device to track their activity. Along with counting steps, the app can convert energy spent doing aerobics, strengthening exercises, gardening and more. A leaderboard helps activity enthusiasts see how much movement their and other teams are logging.
Team members can use the app to communicate with each other and watch videos on yoga and other topics sponsored by health agencies. A Spotify playlist is available to energize workouts.
Last year, teams logged a collective 1 billion steps during the challenge, up by 100 million compared to 2023. About 2,500 people took part. The most activity came from COPE Kansas. The nine-member team managed a collective 18.7 million steps.
“We stepped and synched in with the spirit of ‘harambee,’ a Swahili word that means we all pull together toward a goal,” COPE Kansas team leader Susan Lukwago, PhD, RD, LD, a nutrition services coordinator at WIC Health Agencies in southwest Kansas, told The Nation’s Health. “We were especially motivated by the other teams in the challenge that were doing so well. When they got close to us, that encouraged us to do even better.”
The challenge’s team framework encourages participation, and the friendly competition helps with motivation, Lukwago said.
“Being accountable to someone else often makes it more likely that you will do the thing you said you would do,” she said.
The activity challenge is part of NPHW, April 7-13, which this year boasts the theme “It Starts Here.”
The official NPHW toolkit is available now with step-by-step event planning tips, sample promotional language and social media shareables. Tools are available in both English and Spanish.
For more information and to sign up for the challenge, visit www.nphw.org.
- Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association