By Allison Hoit

Spring is the perfect time of year to freshen up many areas and aspects of your life. You might be familiar with spring cleaning for your house, but you can also spring clean your physical activity routine! With warmer weather here, there are many opportunities to get moving outdoors and try new activities. In fact, May is National Physical Fitness and Sports Month. This observance month highlights the importance of healthy lifestyles, being physically active, and participating in your favorite sports. There are many resources available through NCHPAD to help you start getting physically active or to spruce up your current routine.

This year also marks the fifth anniversary of the First Lady’s Let’s Move initiative, which has helped to get Americans of all ages and abilities healthy and active. Let’s Move has components for Active Families, Active Schools, Active Communities, and Let’s Move Outside. To celebrate the fifth anniversary, a call to action has been announced to #GimmeFive things you are doing to eat better, be more active, and lead a healthier life. Join in the fun and find new ways to get active by sharing your #GimmeFive and challenging family, friends, and colleagues to do the same!

Here at NCHPAD, we value the importance of a healthy lifestyle just as much as we promote it.  So, to get the ball rolling, I asked five of our NCHPAD staff to share what they will do for the #GimmeFive challenge. We also had a group of kids from Lakeshore Foundation do five jumping jacks showing all ability levels. Since I am issuing the challenge, my #GimmeFive will include getting up from my desk five times throughout the day to walk for five minutes. This will help to break up my sedentary time, because it is well documented how sitting is the new smoking. Luckily, there is an indoor track right outside my office, but if you are not as fortunate, walk outside or just around your worksite’s campus. Here are some tips on organizing an inclusive walking meeting.

Keep reading to see what others have in store for their #GimmeFive challenge...