Georgetown University in Qatar takes first place in Be-an-Active-Campus competition

Georgetown University in Qatar (GU-Q) was recently awarded first place out of 15 competing universities in the Step into Health Be-an-Active-Campus competition, which challenged Qatar-based tertiary institutions to escalate their activity levels by walking more than 10, 000 steps a day.

Over 260 GU-Q staff, faculty, students and service providers volunteered to join the program, which ran over six months in late 2015 and early 2016. They were provided with pedometers, or used a dedicated step-counting app on their mobile phones, to track their progress towards the daily 10, 000 step goal. At the end of the competition period, Georgetown participants had logged a total of 1.26 million steps.

The campus challenge forms part of the broader Step into Health well-being program, which was initiated by the Aspire Zone Foundation under the supervision of Aspetar’s Healthy Lifestyle Program. This is the second year that GU-Q took part, and participants almost doubled their average number of daily steps compared to last year’s program.

“We wanted to get involved as a way to encourage our campus community to embrace an active lifestyle,” said Mary Bryan, benefits and wellness manager at GU-Q. “This initiative made people aware that even a small increase in their daily steps makes a big difference.”

One of the success stories shared at the awards ceremony was that of GU-Q’s assistant director for housing and residential safety & security, Hussein Aldobashi, who lost 12kg through the Step into Health challenge. On a normal work day at the start of the program, he logged an average of 4,000-7,000 steps – by the end of the challenge, he had regularly passed the 10, 000 step goal, and achieved a personal best of 24, 000 steps in one day.

In addition to increasing his daily step count by walking, Aldobashi embraced spinning and bike-riding and motivated his family to join in too. He attributes his success to the incentive provided by the mobile app and the encouragement received by Georgetown’s wellness staff, who provided brochures advocating the many health benefits of exercise and regularly checked in with participants.

“It was great to have a constant reminder through the app, because anywhere you go, you take your phone with you,” explained Aldobashi. “It showed you how if you weren’t doing any extra exercise, you wouldn’t hit the goal. If you went to the gym, it was easy to meet the target.”

To date, more than 44,250 people in Qatar have joined the wider Healthy Lifestyle Program, which includes Step into Health walking challenges and other activities aimed at schools, workplaces and the wider public. The program aims to change the largely inactive lifestyle in the country and lower the risk factors for heart disease, high blood pressure and obesity, by encouraging an increase in moderate exercise, the adoption of healthier habits and a greater understanding of nutrition.

Other top-placed universities involved in the Be-an-Active-Campus competition included Stenden University, College of the North Atlantic, Virginia Commonwealth University and University of Calgary Qatar.