Andy Murray to support The Daily Mile initiative

Source: Scottish Government

Date: 26-June-2018

Tennis ace will use public profile to champion active lifestyle across the UK.

We are delighted to announce that tennis legend Sir Andy Murray is our new ambassador for The Daily Mile!

As part of NHS70 celebrations Murray is supporting projects which aim to encourage more people to start a regular habit that leads to a more active lifestyle. Murray will support The Daily Mile Foundation across Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in inspiring more schools to participate.

He said, „I am proud to be supporting The Daily Mile. It is a simple initiative which benefits children’s physical and mental health along with their well-being.“

This article has been reproduced with the kind permission of the content creator, Scottish Government. To read the article in full, please click the link below.

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Press Release: Let’s get all British Primary School children running a mile every day

Primary schools are encouraged to introduce The Daily Mile in Government’s Childhood Obesity Strategy
750,000 children in 4,400 schools are already taking part. As of today, the opportunity is open to all primary schools across the UK.
INEOS Founder and CEO Jim Ratcliffe says, “It should be mandatory for children to do 15 minutes of exercise every day. It’s not good for a 10-year-old to be obese. You’re storing up problems. It leads to ill health and people who are not productive and probably not very happy. When primary children do this, they all have a big smile on their face. We need to make this happen”

The latest announcement from the Government places The Daily Mile at the centre of its strategy to fight childhood obesity. The latest strategy further endorses the idea that 15 minutes of daily activity improves the physical fitness, health and well-being of young people and supports findings that The Daily Mile can transform the lives of young people across Britain. The Daily Mile campaign has been going from strength to strength in 2018 following a worldwide response to the ITV ad campaign, supported by INEOS and ITV, where thousands of schools have been encouraged to register their schools and join the movement.

Unlike many initiatives that have been and gone, The Daily Mile is straightforward and free. Notably, its ‘common sense’ approach is proven to work. Research by the Universities of Stirling and Edinburgh confirms that The Daily Mile boosts activity levels and improves fitness and body composition. Its findings support the transformational benefits of the campaign. 750,000 children in 4,400 schools are already taking part. As of today, the opportunity is open to all primary schools across the UK.

Founder of The Daily Mile Elaine Wyllie says:

“I started The Daily Mile 6 years ago whilst the headteacher of a small Primary School in Stirling. It is incredible to think that since then it has been endorsed by the Mayor of London and the Prime Minister and 750,000 children across 39 countries are now signed up. Thousands of young lives have already been transformed by this simple, free, effective activity and we are thrilled that The Daily Mile is now halving childhood obesity. It is a noble but achievable goal especially when daily exercise becomes a way of life and then maintained into adulthood. I am delighted by the commitment and look forward to working with the government to get British primary pupils running a mile every day. Simply put this is a win for children.”

INEOS Founder and CEO Jim Ratcliffe says:

“It should be mandatory for children to do 15 minutes of exercise every day. It’s not good for a 10-year-old to be obese. You’re storing up problems. It leads to ill health and people who are not productive and probably not very happy. When primary children do this, they all have a big smile on their face. We need to make this happen.”

In May this year Prime Minister Theresa May said “The Daily Mile is an excellent programme. It is simple and inclusive, and it can successfully engage children in physical activity, who would otherwise not undertake that physical activity.” She continued, “I certainly agree that we want more schools to adopt the active approach and adopt The Daily Mile.” The latest announcement from the Government backs this up by placing The Daily Mile at the centre of its strategy to fight childhood obesity.

To find out more about The Daily Mile visit www.tdmdeprod.wpengine.com, to join The Daily Mile movement and download resources to get started. Parents and teachers are encouraged to follow The Daily Mile on social media to keep up with all the latest news and share their Daily Mile experiences with the team. In addition, there is an information line that can be reached by calling 0330 8800 100 (Weekdays 7am-8pm and Weekends 9am- 5pm).

ENDS.

Media contacts

The Daily Mile: Joseph Wade (+44) 207 384 6980 – (+44) 7758 074 576

The Daily Mile: Chris Hall (+44) 207 384 6980 – (+44) 7739 571 634

INEOS: Richard Longden (+41) 21 627 7063 – (+41) 79 962 61 23

Club continues to support The Daily Mile

Source: Ipswich Town Football Club (FC)

Picture: Andy Abbott

Date: 15-June-2018

Thirty Suffolk schools sign up to The Daily Mile through East Anglian Go Kids (EAGK).

Former Town Player and now Academy Coach, Alan Lee, was at St. Gregory Primary School in Sudbury earlier today along with second year scholars Jack Lankester and Brett McGavin to take part in The Daily Mile.

The initiative is part of East Anglian Go Kids – a new campaign Blues have set up with Suffolk-based organisations, including Vertas.

Alan, Brett and Jack were in attendance to recognise 30 Suffolk schools signing up to The Daily Mile. When East Anglian Go Kids was launched, the aim was to have 25% of Suffolk primary schools registered by the end of 2018.

The Town trio took part in The Daily Mile with pupils from St. Gregory, before presenting certificates and fruit supplied by Vertas upon completion.

One of the key parts of East Anglian Go Kids is encouraging healthy eating in schools and this was well deserved after completing the event. Alan, Jack and Brett all sat down to enjoy a healthy lunch provided by Vertas Eats with pupils and staff from St. Gregory.

Alan spoke to iFollow Ipswich after completing The Daily Mile: “It’s great to be involved, it’s a really good initiative and I would encourage schools to sign up to The Daily Mile as the transformation can be extremely beneficial,” he said.

This article has been reproduced with the kind permission of the content creator, Ipswich Town FC. To read the article in full, please click the link below.

Correr 15 minutos diarios hace la diferencia en la salud de niños europeos

Source: El Mercurio (Chile)

Date: 07-June-2018

The Daily Mile Foundation are delighted to have been featured in El Mercurio, the most widely read newspaper in Chile. The article is incredibly positive and features quotes from Alejandra Domper, Executive Secretary of the Choose Healthy Living Program from the Ministry of Health in Chile, and Veronica Cerda, a clinical paediatrician at the University of the Andes.

The article explains The Daily Mile to its Chilean audience and includes the results from the recent research published from the Universities of Stirling and Edinburgh. Chile has similar childhood health issues as the UK, 26% of 5 to 7 year olds are classified as overweight, and 24% suffer from obesity.

Alejandra Domper said, “It deals with a simple and concrete action, carried out sociably and in the fresh air, it not only increases physical activity, but also encourages interaction between peers”. She believes The Daily Mile will “avoid the sustained rise…of obesity, which is why this initiative… is extremely positive and relevant”.

Veronica Cerda believes that the major benefit of The Daily Mile is that it “influences enormously the formation of healthy habits, which is what we aspire to”; if exercise becomes a habit for children it will be continued later in life.

This article has been reproduced with the kind permission of the content creator, El Mercurio. To read the article in full, please click the link below.

Motivating Miles: Reflections on why The Daily Mile might be tapping in to children’s natural motivation

Source: Policy Studies – University of Bristol

Date: 05-June-2018

Dr Simon Sebire, Centre of Exercise, Nutrition and Health Sciences, reflects on the success of the physical activity initiative, The Daily Mile.

Ten days ago I had the pleasure of being involved in the launch of The Daily Mile in Guernsey. The Daily Mile has been taken on by most schools on the Island in the last 9 months and Thursday 24^th June was a celebration of the work here to date. Elaine Wyllie, the founder of The Daily Mile and John, Elaine’s husband, were in Guernsey to support the launch. This included a tour of Daily Miles at various schools around the island, a celebration mile and lunch and a special mile for some pupils around the beautiful Government House (the residence of the Lieutenant-Governor, the Crown’s personal representative in the Bailiwick of Guernsey).

It was whilst walking the mile around the Government House grounds (being lapped by happy, rosy-cheeked children in the process) that Elaine and I began discussing how my research on people’s motivation for physical activity and developing interventions could help explain why children and schools in Guernsey and around the world seem so taken by The Daily mile phenomenon.

This article has been reproduced with the kind permission of the content creator, The University of Bristol. To read the article in full, please click the link below.

The Daily Mile ‚for Adults‘

Source: BBC Radio Scotland

Date: 04-June-2018

The Daily Mile Foundation are excited to see the ‚Fit For Life‚ campaign put into practice on BBC Radio Scotland’s programme „Personal Best„, as presented by Gillian Russell.

As part of the Fit For Life campaign, Elaine Wyllie advocates that everyone should be fitting The Daily Mile into their daily routines; whether it is a jog to work, a run at lunchtime, or a walk whilst socialising with colleagues and friends. Furthermore, employers would benefit as by implementing The Daily Mile in workplaces, productivity would increase. As Elaine said, „a healthy employee and a happy employee is a good employee.“

Birchwood Highland, a mental health charity, advised that social isolation is bad for our health. One of the many numerous benefits of The Daily Mile is that it increases opportunity for social interactions, as it is 100% inclusive.

In the interview (below), Birchwood Highland describes sitting as ‚the new smoking‘, and encourages people to move around as much as possible.

A research study conducted by Paul Kelly at the University of Edinburgh found that the average 25 year old office worker in Scotland sits just as much as the average 75 year old pensioner.

Trish Gorely from the University of Highlands and Islands who researched the benefits of The Daily Mile for children, said if adults did The Daily Mile every day for a week, they would have already achieved two thirds of the Government’s recommended amount of exercise. The WHO found that if people walked a mile more each day (between 15-20 minutes of walking), it could prevent 15,000 deaths per year.

This article has been reproduced with the kind permission of the content creator, BBC Radio Scotland. To hear the piece in full, please click the link below.

The Daily Mile Foundation has created a version of The Daily Mile aimed at anyone 11+ in secondary schools, colleges, universities, workplaces, secure settings and retirement homes.
The initiative builds on the success of The Daily Mile in primary and nursery schools, with the total number of schools currently signed up to The Daily Mile at over 4,000, with over 700,000 children participating in 36 countries.
Elaine Wyllie, founder of The Daily Mile said, „It has been an incredible period of growth for The Daily Mile over the last few months. I am delighted to launch ‚Fit For Life‘ as I strongly believe that just 15 minutes of daily physical activity can have powerful health and well-being benefits for everyone, regardless of age, ability or personal circumstance. It’s my hope that Fit For Life will build on the success of the children’s initiative and will lead to everyone taking part in The Daily Mile.„

The Daily Mile Foundation is pleased to announce the launch of ‘Fit For Life’. Fit For Life is inspired by the success of The Daily Mile, the highly successful children’s health and wellbeing initiative, which was started by Elaine Wyllie in 2012 as headteacher of a large Scottish Primary school.

The Daily Mile Foundation has now created a version of The Daily Mile aimed at anyone aged 11+ in secondary schools, colleges, universities, workplaces, secure settings and retirement homes.

The Daily Mile was founded to combat the growing epidemic of obesity, sedentary behaviour and inactivity which effects many children and can cause significant health risks in later life. The Daily Mile Foundation are aware that the same health problems associated with inactivity and sedentary behaviour can affect anyone and are particularly prevalent in increasingly sedentary workplaces. There are now over 4,000 schools participating in The Daily Mile and by participating they are enabling their children to have a positive transformational change to their health and well-being. We want to improve the physical, social, emotional and mental health and wellbeing of everyone – regardless of age, ability or environment.

Motivated by the Scottish Government’s desire to be the first ‘Daily Mile Nation’, Fit For Life has been started with great success in Scottish Power, NHS Greater Clyde and Glasgow, Universities such as Heriot-Watt and Glasgow, and Dundee and Angus College. Outside of Scotland, INEOS had a highly successful Daily Mile challenge to get their 18,000 employees moving and Cornwall Council is also encouraging its employees to participate as well. Across these workplaces and universities more and more people are feeling the physical, social, emotional and mental health and wellbeing benefits of The Daily Mile.

The aim of The Daily Mile Fit For Life is to incorporate 15 minutes of self-paced physical activity (walking, jogging or running) into your daily life, to experience the benefits of regular exercise.

The Daily Mile is an easy step towards a healthier life, it costs nothing, it is social and non-competitive and you are in complete control of it. The Daily Mile has shown that regular physical activity has a positive impact on our health and wellbeing, and can help us to feel refreshed,
happier, more productive, and less stressed.

The Daily Mile, which was founded at St Ninians’ Primary School in Stirling by Elaine Wyllie is now growing at its fastest ever rate. The popular children’s initiative, which has formal backing from Scottish and Welsh governments, has seen its profile soar and experienced its highest period of growth ever having harnessed the power of television to engage with new audiences and broaden the reach of the message.

The campaign’s profile was furthered boosted from research findings announced by the Universities of Stirling and Edinburgh, on 10th May. The study found that policymakers should consider introducing The Daily Mile to improve the health and fitness of schoolchildren around
the world. It confirmed that it boosts activity levels in class and improves fitness and body composition. The findings were reported across broadcast, print and online media.

Elaine Wyllie, founder of The Daily Mile said; ‘It has been an incredible period of growth for The Daily Mile over the last few months. I am delighted with the launch of ‘Fit For Life’ as I strongly believe that just 15 minutes of daily physical activity can have powerful health and well-being benefits for everyone, regardless of age, ability or personal circumstance. It’s my hope that Fit for Life will build on the successes of the children’s initiative and will lead to everyone taking part in The Daily Mile.’

The Daily Mile is simple, free and transferable across all settings. To get involved with Fit For Life, please visit www.thedailymilefitforlife.com and register your interest.