Healthier Work Games
With the London 2012 Olympic/Paralympic Games just around the
corner, this is an ideal time to encourage people to become more
physically active and generally healthier. Take the challenge and be
inspired by our athletes to improve your health over the period of
the Olympic/Paralympic Games!
The Challenge
There are a number of challenges you could conduct over the six
weeks of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Olympic Games
27 July – 12 August and Paralympic Games 29 August –
9 September) – the aim is to make your workplace healthier. We’ve
designed a fun and simple games package covering physical activity
and healthy eating that can be downloaded and tailored to suit
your workplace.
Pick a country
To get started have people pick a country out of a hat (use the list
provided). Depending on the number of participants people might
have one country each, or teams can be formed starting from two
in a team up to 10. You could ask people to research their country,
a great way for us all to learn more about the world we live in.
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Opening Ceremony
This is a great opportunity to get everyone on board. Have an event
to start the challenge. Everyone could bring in a healthy dish from
one of the 205 nations taking part. You could have a healthy
morning tea and discuss the benefits of increasing your physical
activity. People could also share an interesting fact about the
country they have picked. Have a look at some tips on choosing
healthier options for morning/afternoon teas and lunches on the
healthy eating section of the Healthier Work Website.
Have a look at the Go for 2 & 5® website for some healthy recipes.
Have a look at the Find Thirty every day® website for physical
activity ideas.
Appoint a Judge
Choose a ‘judge’ whose decision will be final. They should follow
the guidelines set up, and be fair and impartial.
Healthier Work Games
Points
Being Active
The Healthier Work Games runs on a point system. Each country
gets 20 points each time a team member achieves the
recommended daily intake of fruit and vegetables – two servings of
fruit and five servings of vegetables. See the Go for 2 & 5® website
for additional information and resources. Each country also gets
20 points when team members complete the recommended daily
physical activity amount of 30 minutes, which can be taken in
blocks of two 15 minute walks. Visit the Find Thirty every day® for
additional resources. 1 point is available each time team members
make a healthier choice these include, but are not limited to:
Healthy Eating

Bring a healthy lunch from home

Choose a healthy lunch option from the take-away

Keep a water bottle filled up and drinking from it regularly
through the day

Snack on healthy food options

Ensure that a meetings are catered with healthy food
options (information on healthy catering is available on the
healthy eating section of the Healthier Work Website)
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
Take the stairs rather than the lift (one point each time)

Park the car further away or get off the bus a stop early

Organise a walking meeting (when the meeting is
completed it will count towards your 30 minutes of physical
activity)

Go for a walk at lunch (bonus 20 points if it’s for 30
minutes!)

Rather than send an email walk to talk to colleagues

Stand for all phone conversations during the day
Having the chart in an easy to see place will encourage all countries
to work hard to improve their score.
The Closing Ceremony
Organise a fun (and healthy) reward for the winning country, with
prizes for Gold, Silver and Bronze. Encourage everyone to get
together to share their tips on what they did to improve their
workplace health.