Australia’s peak body for the exercise and active health sector – and Myzone have launched the ‘Fit for Office initiative with Myzone to lobby the government to to accelerate its preventative mental health and inactivity strategy and relieve the economic burden on the healthcare system by promoting the importance of regular exercise.
The pollies and their teams are using MyZone heart rate monitors until October 22 to track their physical activity, with their exercise efforts shown in real-time on a group leaderboard.
AUSactive CEO, Barrie Elvish, says the University of South Australia’s research is evidence of the positive impacts regular activity can have on an individual’s health and wellbeing.
“Physical inactivity must be addressed as it is a major public health issue in Australia,” he says.
“There are huge savings to be made to the Australian health budget by increasing physical activity and AUSactive’s position is that prevention is better than cure.
“With one in eight people worldwide living with a mental disorder, and one in five Australians experiencing a mental disorder in the last 12 months, the research set out to understand the impact and results exercise can achieve for patients.
“The worldwide cost of mental health disorders is set to rise from $2.3 trillion to $6 trillion by 2030 and while the benefit of exercise for depression and anxiety is generally recognised, it is often overlooked in the management of these conditions.
“We are also ranked 140th out of 146 countries for the highest physical inactivity levels for adolescents – a shocking statistic.
“With rates of obesity increasing year-on-year coupled with a health system that is already bursting at the seam, the Federal Government needs to invest in, and allocate funding, to a greater scope of preventative health initiatives, programs and activities.”
The Fit for Office challenge is graded among four categories:
- Top MP Point Earner
- Top Office Point Earner
- Top Office Point Average
- The most MPs and staff members reach the World Health Organisation Guidelines for Physical Activity of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity (or at least 75 minutes of moderate and vigorous-intensity physical activity) per week.
Modelled on similar successful campaigns in the US and UK, the initiative, the pollies’ results recorded in real time via a unique measurement called ‘Myzone Effort Points’ (MEPs) that uses heart rate data to quantify physical activity based on each person’s effort.
The initiative is in support of the WHO’s Global Action Plan for Physical Activity that the previous government signed up to through this campaign in 2018, to encourage 15% more Australians to be more active by 2030.
Data shows:
- Australia ranks 140 out of 146 OECD countries for physical activity for adolescents
- 67% of Australian adults are obese or overweight
- 72% of people with a disability aged over 15 are also not doing enough physical activity
- Exercise is 1.5 times more effective than pharmaceuticals or counselling in treating anxiety and depression
- We spend $450 each year for every man, woman and child in Australia treating mental health problems
- Investing in effective preventative health has a four to six times return in savings for every dollar spent
- Physical activity can be done at no cost, has no side-effects and data shows even doing a low amount cuts the risk of early death
