The Cancer Information Team are supporting On Your Feet Britain today!

Do you know how many hours the average British person spends sitting down each day? About 9 hours a day according to the Get Britain Standing campaign. Get Britain standing is a campaign challenging the nation to #sitless and #movemore during their working day.

There are many health benefits to reducing the amount of time you sit down. This campaign aims to encourage people to reduce the amount of time office workers spend sitting down, but we all can benefit from moving more.

We know that physical activity is important and helps reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer and type 2 diabetes. It also improves our energy levels and mental well-being. But many of us still have a sedentary lifestyle.

Today is national ‘On Your Feet Britain’ day and people across Britain are being challenged to take a stand, sit less and move more at work. There are lots of simple ways we can get moving more:

• go over and speak to a colleague face to face rather than emailing
• use a sit-stand desk (demonstrated in the photo below)
• take phone calls standing up
• take the stairs rather than the lift
• have standing meetings.

Not to be left out, and always up for a bit of healthy competition, the Cancer Information Development team has got involved. We’ve been competing with each other in a pedometer challenge all week, to see who can take the most steps. Some of us have also been standing on the train (voluntarily), walking or cycling to work, and even taking the stairs to our office on the 9th floor (which feels like climbing Everest at half 8 in the morning!).

Why not join in and see how many steps you can do a day? Of course, if you’re going through cancer treatment, you may not have the energy to get on a bike or climb the stairs. But some physical activity can be really beneficial, both during treatment and after. You can read more about physical activity and cancer here.

To see what else Macmillan's cancer information team has been blogging about, please visit our blog home page! You can subscribe to receive our blogs by email or RSS too.

We're with you every step of the way

The Macmillan team is here to help. Our cancer support specialists can answer your questions, offer support, or simply listen if you need a chat. Call us free on 0808 808 00 00.

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