RED Movement Breaks

The health and wellbeing of employees is one of the most valuable assets a business can have. Book RED Movement Breaks for your organisation or upcoming event.

Why is this needed?

Research suggests that on average, a person has 3.4 poor mental health days per month. With regular movement/exercise, this drops by 40%.
Alongside this, around one in three workers are ‘constantly struggling with fatigue and poor mental health’. We believe this needs to change. Do you?

We’re urging businesses to take the lead from our incredible partners Decathlon UK and implement daily movement breaks to support employees through the winter months and beyond.

Decathlon's movement breaks

Decathlon introduced movement breaks for all their UK employees during RED January, following a survey which found that 61% believed having time in their day to move would significantly improve their mental wellbeing.

With the success of their workplace initiative and the findings of a recent report outlining how getting the nation’s workforce physically active could benefit the UK economy by up to £17bn a year, we believe it’s time for all businesses to see whether movement breaks could work for them.

Introduce movement breaks into your organisation or upcoming event

Our movement campaign

We surveyed 1,438 REDers to understand the impact being more active had on their mental health and found that almost 80% of participants noticed an improvement in their mental wellbeing as a result of moving regularly throughout January, with over a third (35%) saying that workplace movement breaks were one of the most important changes their employer could make.

This is also backed by Dr Brendon Stubbs, one of the world’s leading researchers in movement and mental health.

“The research speaks for itself, movement is a fantastic, and often free, way to help maintain and improve our mental health. It has a multi-system effect on our body and sparks new connections, lighting up key areas of the brain that help with emotional processing... Which is why I support RED January in their mission to get businesses to implement movement breaks for employees.”

Movement that works

Moving before or after work can be especially difficult during the winter months, with the lack of daylight seriously affecting not only motivation levels, but also the ability to get outside to exercise safely. To tackle this problem, Decathlon UK have led the way by their encouraging employees to take movement breaks during the working day to better support their mental and physical wellbeing.

Delphine Mazillier, Decathlon UK’s Head of CSR said the impact of regular movement breaks has been profound for employee wellbeing.

“The benefits of encouraging our teammates the flexibility to take 30 minutes to ‘move for their minds’ have been amazing. Employers are in a unique position to positively influence change that encourages and enables employees to be more active during the day and we urge other businesses to join us in supporting their wellbeing."