“Move-It Monday” - Jump Starting Your Week

The CDC recommends that adults get two and a half hours of physical activity each week, but for many people, keeping up an exercise routine is challenging. With an increased national focus on reducing obesity rates, many employers, local health departments, and other organizations have begun encouraging their employees and constituents to engage in physical activity, sometimes implementing various physical activity interventions. Despite their accessibility, many exercise initiatives struggle with participation and retention.

One solution to this problem is for public health practitioners to focus on when participants are most receptive to messages about physical activity and how they can leverage this to help participants form healthy exercise habits. New evidence shows consistent weekly cycles in YMCA facility usage, with the most usage occurring on Mondays. By leveraging the natural tendency to focus on health behaviors at the beginning of the week, organizations can encourage their audiences to start exercising and establish habitual thinking about physical activity. Using this evidence, The Monday Campaigns created “Move-It Monday,” a creative campaign that encourages audiences to use Monday as the day to start their week off with physical activity and to commit to exercising throughout the rest of the week.

This session describes the city of Syracuse’s success creating walkable communities with “Monday Mile” walking routes and a city-wide “Move-It Monday” proclamation. The session also describes how leveraging the “Monday Effect” can help organizations increase the effectiveness of their communications and improve the reach of physical activity interventions among their communities.