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Statistics for Sustainable Development > Blog > Healthy Living: The Neglected Miracle Cure

Opinion Piece Thursday 8th August 2019

Healthy Living: The Neglected Miracle Cure

  • healthy living
  • healthy lifestyle
  • healthy office
  • step count
  • flexible working
  • healthy office initiatives

"If exercise were a pill, it would be one of the most cost-effective drugs ever invented" - Dr Cavill

Healthy living is becoming an increasingly important issue, especially if you enjoy a busy office life. With the easy option being to eat convenient, unhealthy food and to stay glued to your computer screen, there’s a greater chance that you will slip into a lifestyle which could be detrimental to your health. The definition of ‘healthy’ differs from person to person. It could be: never taking a sick day, being able to run a 5k in the park or training for a marathon. However, attaining a healthy lifestyle is a key element to achieving any physical and mental well-being goal.

A combination of a good well-balanced diet and sufficient exercise, a healthy lifestyle is simple!  There are numerous benefits to pursuing your own healthy lifestyle goals. Here are a few:

  1. ·         It helps boost your immune system and can help reduce your risk of chronic illness by up to 50%
  2. ·         Reduces stress
  3. ·         Promotes better mental health
  4. ·         Encourages a better night’s sleep
  5. ·         Helps maintain a healthy BMI (Body Mass Index)
  6. ·         Releases endorphins - the happy chemical!

In a busy working life, it’s very easy to let healthy habits slip into unhealthy ones. At Stats4SD we do our best to promote healthy lifestyles in the workplace.  The importance of balance is key to our philosophy of a healthy lifestyle. For example, we keep our fruit bowls stocked up, but we also hold wine and cheese nights every so often! Living a healthy lifestyle does not mean you can’t enjoy an indulgence now and again (like we do with our wine and cheese) but it’s finding that balance and moderation that is key.


Though the fruit bowl stays stocked up, we do also like a bit of wine and cheese from time to time...


One of the biggest problems is that everyone forgets the benefits of getting enough exercise and therefore does not prioritise a healthy lifestyle. Pursuing this does not mean you have to spend two hours in the gym every day and eating a rabbit’s diet! Here are some tips of small changes you can make to increase healthy living in a busy office life:

·        Move more! Increasing your number of steps in a day can make a huge difference. It’s as simple as walking to work, taking the stairs or popping out for 20 minutes on your lunch break

·         Make sure you take regular breaks from the computer screen

·         Drink lots of water – the NHS recommend at least 8 glasses a day

·         Try to be aware of the kinds of food you are eating. Just make sure that you have a good balance of all the right foods, and everything is in moderation


Stats4SD also understands that everyone has different lives and commitments, so we offer flexible working hours to all our staff.  Recent studies have shown that staff who work flexible hours are often more productive and efficient[1]. Staff are also less likely to take days off due to stress and are more likely to be happy in their jobs as they have greater control over their work-life balance[2].




To build on this, and other healthy living initiatives we have, we've continued our commitment to the cause by organising a step challenge for the week to try and get everyone's step count up. It was great to see so many of us get involved!