For many employees, modern work patterns make sitting the default. Is our working day influencing our cardiovascular health? According to the 2026 Work is Health report, conducted by YouGov and commissioned by EGYM Hussle, 61% of UK employees state that long hours of sitting and screen time are actively harming their health and wellbeing.
If work design makes prolonged sitting the default, getting colleagues more active means changing their environment – not just telling them to exercise. This National Cholesterol Month is an opportunity to look at how to encourage physical activity at work for better heart health.
Why is movement crucial for heart health and cholesterol?
Physical exercise has benefits for muscle mass, bone density, mood, and sleep. It can reduce the risk of metabolic disease, strokes, and some cancers. But how is it directly related to cholesterol and heart health?
Why does movement matter for good cardiovascular health?
Regular physical activity is associated with improved cardiovascular fitness, blood pressure regulation, metabolic health, weight management, and reduced risk of cardiovascular disease.
WHO Guidelines on Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour recommend that adults should limit the amount of sedentary time, replacing it with physical activity of any intensity (including low intensity, such as walking), with additional benefits coming from moderate-to-vigorous activity.
“Regular exercise prevents obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and other illness, and can minimize risk factors,” says Dr. Volker Nürnberg, Professor of Occupational Health Management, who recommends incorporating movement into the working day, including walking at lunchtime and standing for calls.
How does cholesterol affect heart health?
Having too much low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol in the blood can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. LDL build up in the arteries contributes to atherosclerosis, increasing the risk of heart attack and stroke. Physical activity is a key part of a wider approach to managing cardiovascular risk, by improving cholesterol levels, blood pressure, and weight.
How much activity is needed to protect our hearts?
WHO recommends adults get 150-300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity per week, or 75-150 minutes of vigorous activity (or a combination).
Michaela Nuttall, Chair of the HEART UK Healthcare Committee says:
“Physical activity helps to protect our hearts in lots of different ways. It can help us manage our cholesterol, blood pressure and weight, as well as improving our fitness, strength and overall wellbeing. And being active doesn’t have to mean vigorous exercise or spending hours in the gym. It’s about finding more opportunities to move during the day and making that part of our normal routine. Those small changes really do add up and can make a difference to our heart health.”
How can HR promote movement during the working day?
One of the challenges facing HR professionals is the fact that colleagues may be in the workplace, on the road, travelling, working from home, or hybrid. For colleagues who are in the workplace, think about how to encourage physical activity at work.
Build movement into meetings
- Walking meetings where appropriate
- Standing meetings for shorter discussions
- Encourage taking calls away from desks
- Avoiding unnecessary meetings altogether
Make active breaks legitimate
- Build activity into company culture
- Make sure management lead by example
- Provide prompts and reminders for movement
- Avoid scheduling back-to-back meetings
Change the environment
- Make stairs easier or more appealing to use
- Provide accessible showers and changing facilities
- Provide secure cycle storage
- Consider walking routes and active spaces
Make physical activity social
- Choose employee fitness benefits that give choice and flexibility
- Provide access to a range of gyms, classes, leisure facilities
- Set up walking groups and friendly fitness challenges
How to encourage physical movement for remote and hybrid employees
When the commute disappears, so can many opportunities for gym access and incidental movement. And when colleagues are off-site, HR might have a harder time encouraging uptake of wellness benefits.
For remote and hybrid workers, the goal isn’t to recreate the office environment. Instead, try to make movement possible within a more flexible working pattern:
- Encourage breaks between calls
- Avoid virtual meeting overload
- Build flexibility around access to exercise
- Ensure fitness benefits include gyms near their location
- Offer virtual and on-demand fitness options
- Include remote workers in any office-based activities and challenges
Are walking meetings effective for team productivity?
Walking meetings obviously help colleagues get more steps in. But are they actually useful for productivity? Walking meetings may be good for one-to-one conversations, brainstorming, catch-ups, coaching, and check-ins. If they can be done outside, all the better – walking in nature has been linked to better mood and mental wellbeing. According to a 2014 study from Stanford University, walking increased overall creative output by an average of 60% compared to sitting.
That doesn’t mean turning every meeting into a walk, but recognising that some meetings don’t need to be done sitting down in a dingy meeting room.
From encouraging movement to designing it into the work day
Heart disease is one of the leading health risks in the UK for both men and women. Even small increases to physical activity levels can have a profound impact on cardiovascular health, as well as benefits to general health, mood, and satisfaction at work.
Sustainable changes to employee activity levels happen when movement at work is normalised and supported throughout the organisation. Give individuals information, access, and motivation. Support teams by creating social permission to move, with managers modelling it. And design spaces, schedules, and employee benefits that make movement easier to say yes to.
Making movement part of workplace wellbeing
Movement is a vital part of preventative wellbeing, and having flexible access to fitness and wellness facilities can remove one big barrier to being more active.
Corporate fitness access can form part of a wider workplace strategy that makes physical activity easier to access, alongside healthier work design and supportive workplace culture.
EGYM Hussle helps organisations offer flexible fitness and wellness benefits for all employees, with access to 1,000s of gyms, pools, spas, and online fitness options. To find out how flexible fitness benefits can encourage physical activity at work, book a call with EGYM Hussle here.
This survey was collected on the YouGov Panels, among 1000 employees of private companies of each country. Fieldwork was conducted from 19th to 27th August 2025 in France, Germany and the USA, and from 25th February to 6th March 2026 in the UK. The figures have been weighted and are representative of employed adults aged 18 and over in each country.
You may also like:
