We all love a long weekend. It gives us the opportunity to spend more time with our families and friends, an extra day to catch up on housework or to take a long walk, cycle or run. Workers return to the office refreshed, more productive… healthier.
So what would happen if every weekend was a long weekend, or more specifically, if everyone in the country worked a 4-day week?
It might sound like a fantasy, but one of Britain’s leading doctors has called for the UK to adopt a four-day week.
Dr Ashton who is president of the UK Faculty of Public Health said that a four day would also give workers more time to address medical conditions, such as high blood pressure and the mental-health concerns associated with stressful jobs. He also noted that it would give people more time to exercise.
“We need a four-day week so that people can enjoy their lives, have more time with their families, and maybe reduce high blood pressure because people might start exercising on that extra day,” Dr John Ashton told the Guardian.
The four-day week certainly sounds appealing, but when it comes to exercising is lack of time the real culprit that needs to be addressed?
Kate Young is the founder of Operation Move, an online community that inspires everyday women to “get moving.” She says that while a four-day week could have benefits, she doesn’t think that it would have a big impact on their fitness.
“If someone wants to move, they’ll make it a priority regardless of what their week looks like. An additional day off work isn’t likely to be the impetus to suddenly embracing a healthier lifestyle,” Young explains.
She continues: “If someone wants to make a lifestyle change, they need support and encouragement from their family and community more than an extra day off each week.”
Sports psychologist Dr Joann Lukins agrees. She says that although lack of time is the most common reason people give for not exercising an extra day off a week probably wouldn’t make a huge difference. “People would fill the extra day as quickly as they have filled their other days off,” she says.
Dr Lukins notes that while people often say they would do more exercise if they had more time, the reality is that finding time to exercise is a matter of priorities. “The challenge for most of us is to understand that we can’t ‘manage’ time,” she says.
“We are all given 24 hours a day, 168 hours per week. We need to make decisions about how we spend that time. Some of our commitments will determine some of that such as work hours or looking after children, however most of us have extra hours in the day where we make decisions about how we spend that time.”
However, for those already prioritising exercise, the prospect of an extra day to spend running, swimming or cycling is an appealing one. HR Manager Chloe Woodhead currently works full time. She says that running is very much part of her routine, but that she enjoys going for longer runs on her days off.
“On my work days I run in my lunch break, or part of the way home. I would absolutely use an extra day off to go for longer runs,” she says.
Of course, creating more time for exercise wasn’t the only benefit Dr Ashton promised when he called for the introduction of a four-day week. But in terms of increasing the amount of exercise we get, it might not be the magic bullet that it sounds like.