I’m a big advocate for getting people moving, it’s a huge motivating factor for me at diddi dance! Getting children moving from an early age so its something they see as fun and enjoyable will then encourage them to keep moving into later life. There’s a lot of evidence about the importance of movement not only for physical health but also for mental health for ALL ages!
So when I saw the BFA were running – Get moving for franchising! And having movement as part of their national franchise week for wellbeing I jumped at the chance to be involved. I ran a free dance session for anyone in franchising, a quick warm up, a simple repetitive dance and a cool down. It was relaxed and encouraging, non judgemental and lots of fun. I used to offer these regularly on TikTok lives during lockdown to get people moving to music to help them escape staying indoors.
There was a Strava group set up by the BFA to encourage walking, running and getting active. Movement isn’t just about intense training or learning a new skill its about far more than that. Dr Brendon Stubbs is a neuroscientist/physical activity/mental health/health tech/data science consultant. He has run so much research about how any form of physical activity can improve our overall health. He’s written papers on how movement is being prescribed for many conditions including depression and schizophrenia.
What has this got to do with franchising? Well Dr Brendon Stubbs writes that actually movement breaks from desk work can increase performance and productivity – “excessive, prolonged bouts of interrupted work, especially desk work, concentration, focus, mental clarity all drop 20% after 1.5-2 hours of sitting” so ensure your workplace encourages this or if you work from home take regular breaks, ideally outside. You don’t have to integrate a gym you can simply walk the dog, move in the garden, walk to the shop instead of drive or even get some music on and have a little freestyle in the kitchen!
It’s great that this is being promoted in schools more and the wellbeing effects of it, one school recently featured on the news for their “rave Fridays” where the whole school has an afternoon break of great tunes and allows everyone to dance freely including the teachers too! So think about this culture in your workplace, if inn school we are getting people to move and see the benefits don’t then stop this when in adulthood they then go into work. Can regular breaks or even guest sessions from movement teachers once in a while help your team be more active? Creating a happy and healthy workforce isn’t just about productivity though, happy employees will trust your brand, respect the leadership and know that they are considered and respected.
Oh and an update on my running? Well unfortunately I suffered a heel injury a month ago (don’t run for a train in wedges) which hasn’t simply been a bruise as I had initially thought so I’m off to get it looked at as struggling with weight bearing whilst teaching dance isn’t fun. – oh and I’m sorry to fellow Elite franchise contributor – Theo Millward for the personal update.
