15 Minute Exercise – Challenge starts today!

June 22, 2020

Northern Health’s six-week 15 Minute Exercise Challenge starts today, and all staff are invited to register here and compete.

Alison O’Sullivan, Wellbeing Coordinator at Northern Health, explained staff can compete by simply finding at least 15 minutes a day to do an exercise of their choice for as many days as possible throughout the six-week challenge and logging their progress online.

“You can join as an individual or form a team of five to eight with your workmates. Once you register, you need to log your progress every day on the platform and the OHS and Wellbeing team has prepared some great prizes for winners, both in the individual and team category,” she said.

Briana Baass, Executive Director Allied Health and Partnerships, is joining the challenge because she feels exercise is such a critical part of our overall wellbeing.

“Especially during busy times, exercise is something we let go and slips out of our day. I find that now, during the COVID-19 restrictions, I lost my discipline to do exercise every day. This is a great opportunity to actually get back into the habit and make sure exercise is a part of my day, and I know I will feel better when I do it,” she said.

Briana enjoys strength exercises, pilates, swimming and keeping active.

“Staff can incorporate exercise in their every day routine by having walking meetings for example, if the weather is good, or they can stop the car at a park or a lake on their way home, or even a shopping centre and have a walk before heading home. I prefer morning exercise and going to the gym,” she said.

Briana adds there is a lot of evidence that connects exercise to increased wellbeing and better mental health.

“We can’t underestimate the power of how critical exercise is to our mental wellbeing and even if it means that you are just moving your body for 15 minutes or going for a walk, that can be really powerful in terms of wellbeing. Exercise also has a huge impact on various chronic diseases. This 15 minute challenge is a great opportunity to get exercise and movement back into our day. Come along for a ride with me and let’s get the exercise back into our daily schedules!” she said.

Please see images below of some of our staff exercising:

Lora and Anthea from Social Work
Basil Ireland taking some time to exercise
Briana Baass is doing a headstand