New universitywide wellness challenge to launch

It’s time to get up and get moving.

Washington University in St. Louis faculty, staff members, clinical fellows and postdoctoral appointees can sign up to participate in the next wellness challenge, WashU Moves.

The program launches Wednesday, Sept. 2, and runs through Thursday, Dec. 10. Each person’s goal is to take 10,000 steps, or roughly 5 miles, each day, for a total of 1 million steps over that time period. Research has found that getting that level of exercise significantly improves fitness and reduces risk for a host of diseases.

The program builds on the School of Medicine’s successful Tread the Med program, which launched in 2011 through the leadership of Legail Chandler, now vice chancellor for human resources.

“What I like is that if you can commit to 100 days of change, you are essentially changing your lifestyle,” said Emily Page, university employee wellness manager. “What we found with Tread the Med is that for people who move regularly, it becomes second nature.”

Employees may register for the challenge anytime, but must do so if interested by Sept. 16.

Prizes will be awarded for employees who achieve 500,000- and 1 million-step milestones. If walking isn’t your thing, participants can also exercise in other ways and convert their efforts into steps through a tool in the WebMD portal.

To put the goal in perspective, imagine walking (virtually) from Anchorage, Alaska, to Tierra del Fuego in South America.

The support of James P. Crane, MD, associate vice chancellor for clinical affairs, and Larry J. Shapiro, MD, executive vice chancellor for medical affairs and dean of the School of Medicine, has helped Tread the Med succeed on the Medical Campus.

Crane participates on a team, and employees can see his own effort and his dedication to the health and welfare of School of Medicine employees, said Betsy Snyder, employee wellness coordinator at the medical school.

Snyder said being part of a team also lends a social aspect to a fitness regimen, helping co-workers get to know each other better and also encouraging each other to stick with it.

Kimberly Shilling, assistant dean in the School of Engineering & Applied Science, said the Danforth Moves challenge last spring, combined with the thought of her daughter’s pending wedding, helped motivate her lifestyle change.

She began adding more fruits and vegetables to her diet, eating better in general and started walking regularly. By May, Shilling was walking 3 miles a day. She now walks about 10 hours a week and also bikes 20 or more miles a week. She has lost more than 30 pounds since March, needs fewer medications and has reclaimed a host of clothes from her closet.

“I am excited about my progress and plan to continue to add healthy habits and eliminate unhealthy ones a little at a time,” Shilling said. “I truly enjoyed the Danforth Moves Challenge, and am certain that it was instrumental in the successful increase of exercise in my life.”

Those who already use a device to monitor wellness, such as a Fitbit, can sync that device to their information in the WebMD portal. Those who wish for help with tracking progress are eligible for a Garmin Vivoki provided by the university’s wellness program.