APHA’s Keep It Moving Challenge is coming to a close Sunday, coinciding with the final day of the Association’s National Public Health Week celebration. With the end just around the corner, it's time to finish strong.

Over 130 teams comprising 2,400 people across the nation have tracked their physical activity for over three months for the challenge. Participants have tracked not only steps, but also workouts and physical activities such as gardening, yoga and swimming.

Among the top teams headed for the finish line are Team Detroit-Windsor, OKey-DELkey and NH Disability & Health. Other notable teams are Dual Coast Steppers, Kewa Pueblo Health Corporation and DOH-Pinellas. The goal of the challenge is to collect millions of "steps," with winning teams announced next week.

Michelle Loosli, MS, APHA's director of Affiliate affairs, who oversees the challenge, encouraged participants to keep up their new habits after the event ends.

"The team spirit and motivation developed during the challenge can continue and help keep you healthy," Loosli said. "It's easier to break a routine than start a new one."

Studies show physical activity plays a major role in overall health and reduces the risk of premature death. In new research published in January in BMJ Medicine, researchers found that people who participate in different types of exercise, such as walking, jogging, running, bicycling and tennis — some of the very exercises promoted during the APHA challenge — have lowered premature death compared to people who do no formal exercise. 

And while strenuous activity, such as running, cycling and playing soccer, can lead to nearly a 20% lower risk of premature death, daily lower-impact exercise such as yoga and walking also come with significant health benefits, the study found. Adding just five more minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per day can lower risk of early death by 10%.

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