Are you ready to feel refreshed and renewed to push through the afternoon workday slump?  Then get ready for National Walk @ Lunch Day April 29, 2015.  Where do you go to walk?  Step right out your worksite door.

“It’s really just that simple,” Jessica Davies, Panhandle Worksite Wellness Council Coordinator, said.  “We are asking employees to don their business on top, fitness on bottom and get up and get moving over their lunch break, whether it’s for  10, 15, or 30 minutes.”

Sitting is now considered the new smoking due to the number of negative effects it has on our health.  A 30 minute walk, five days a week reduces the rate of people becoming diabetic by more than half.  For men it can also decrease the risk of colon cancer by 50% and prostate cancer by two-thirds.

“It’s not really about running marathons, but the evidence clearly shows that we need to get up and move throughout the day,” Davies added.

“We’ve already had several Panhandle businesses sign up.  It’s completely free and an easy way to promote good health to employees!  All businesses that sign up will also receive an incentive for participating.”

Communities are uniting throughout the Panhandle to highlight the event with a number of activities.  Northwest Community Action Partnership employees will be holding their “walk @ lunch” by walking in the morning supporting Chadron Public Schools Morning Marathon and Girls on the Run groups and making a small monetary donation to ensure continuity of these groups. They are encouraging other Chadron businesses to do the same.

Schools throughout the Panhandle are getting in on the action, too.  Many will have students and teachers out to walk for the event.  Bayard Schools is rallying local businesses to join them for the walk.

Kaiser Permanente CEO George Halvorson notes, “The single most effective thing that employers can do to improve the health of their population and make health care more affordable is to get people to walk.”