By Alton Parrish (Reporter)
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The Fidget Project is designed to help people understand the facts about physical activity and the effects that increasing even moderate movement can have on our health through six interactive game zones. Created by award-winning artist Michael Pinsky, the aim is to get people moving more throughout the day.

Dr Wilby Williamson, sports and exercise registrar, sofa expert and inspiration for the Fidget Project, says that the interactive nationwide tour offers real benefits for the ‘sofa-chilling nation’. He explains: “We all know we should move more but most of us do nothing about it. On the whole, modern living isn’t physically demanding. Fidget is aiming to instil an understanding of the impact of the benefit of incremental movement.”

Ben Stewart, public engagement grants manager at the Wellcome Trust, said: “As the Olympic and Paralympic Games roll into town at the end of the month, London is preparing to marvel at countless feats of sporting success and the power of the trained human body.

“At the same time, many more people around the world will be relaxing in their living rooms watching the excitement on TV from the comfort of their sofas. The great thing about the Fidget Project is that we can all relate to it, and we can all learn how to make small lifestyle changes that will make a big difference to our health.”

The Fidget Project, run by London Arts in Health Forum and supported by a Wellcome Trust Society Award, will be at Broadgate in London, 16-18 July. After the London event, Fidget is set to visit Bristol, Taunton, Camp Bestival and Gateshead. For full details of the rest of the tour are available on the Fidget Project website.

Credit:  Fidget Project website.

The World Health Organisation rates physical inactivity as the 4th leading cause of death with approximately 3.2 million deaths globally each year. By 2050, an estimated 20 million British people will be obese and suffering the consequences of our modern lifestyles.

“Although the probability of death is 100% in the long run, we can reduce the speed of approaching death by walking briskly [as little as] 15 minutes every day and thus extend our lives. It comes with a better quality of life, and that applies to all of us …… ‘Our goal is to die young as late as possible’…… [so why not] Live long, live well and stay young”. 

Chi Pang Wen from the Taiwan Institute of Population Science Active lifestyles are encouraged and we all know we should move more and eat less but as a society this doesn’t spur us to change our behaviours. 

Is it a lack of will or a lack of understanding, or is it simply a problem that we are too good at making things easy? On the whole modern living isn’t physically demanding, whether it’s cooking our dinner or getting to work. The only way to change that is to make a positive choice. Fidget is aiming to instil an understanding of the impact of the benefit of incremental movement and get people shuffling along their energy continuum.

By growing public understanding of the science of sedentary behaviour, Fidget will give people the tools to understand lifestyle choices.

To coincide with the Fidget Project, online charity YouthNet – who provide online advice and guidance for young people – have developed a competition to encourage people to get active. The ’00:22′ challenge invites people to come up with innovative ways to introduce simple activity into their daily routine, starting with 22 minutes per day. See the website for more information.

Contacts and sources:
Wellcome Trust

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