Many Gym-goers Are Reading And Answering Text Messages While Using Treadmill

Main Category: Sports Medicine / Fitness
Also Included In: IT / Internet / E-mail;  Psychology / Psychiatry
Article Date: 25 Jul 2008 - 3:00 PDT

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With increasing pressure on workers and businesses it's probably not a great surprise that one in five of us miss a planned session at the gym because of work commitments. But the fact that nearly one in ten who DO get to the gym actually check their mobile phones and devices for email and text DURING a workout shows that the gym treadmill is a seamless extension of the work treadmill for many.

Standard Life Healthcare conducted this research as part of its ongoing study into people's attitudes to wellbeing. Spokesperson Mandy Blanks said: 'More than half the people who check their email during a workout actually respond to an email or text, which shows that many of us are not totally destressing when we're at the gym. It's a problem overall for many people as the research showed that one in three find it hard to destress outside work and six per cent of adults simply never relax. Mobile access to email can be a real boon if you are busy or self-employed, but everyone needs to switch off sometime, so building in time to relax totally is vital.'

The research among more than 1000 adults also found that seven in ten people don't turn their mobile off when they go to bed. Some people said that they only ever turn their mobile phones off during funerals and weddings.

Standard Life Healthcare has extended its role as a provider of private medical insurance to include free access to online advice for all its customers who want to get qualified information about health and wellbeing. More information is available at.

www.standardlifehealthcare.co.uk

*A sample of 1166 GB adults was interviewed by Opinion matters/Ticketbox.net. Interviewing was conducted from 01.07.08 - 04.07.08