Could the Great North Run inspire your patients to take up running using NHS Couch to 5K app?
Visits to the NHS Couch to 5K webpage are expected to rise significantly this weekend as the Great North Run takes place in Newcastle upon Tyne. The Great North Run is the world’s biggest half marathon, with 60,000 runners taking on the 13.1-mile route from Newcastle to South Shields.
The event also features races for competitors in wheelchairs and those who are visually impaired race.
Analysis by NHS England, which runs the nhs.uk website, shows that traffic to the webpage rose by 136 per cent on the day of this year’s London Marathon (21 April) – with 13,232 visits to the page, compared with 5,602 on the previous day.
Visits also rose by 63 per cent on the day of last year’s Great North Run (20 September 2023), with more than 2,000 extra visits to the webpage.
The NHS Couch to 5K programme is a nine-week running plan – aimed at helping non-runners and beginners gradually work towards running five kilometres. The plan involves three runs a week, with a day's rest in between, and a different schedule for each of the nine weeks.
Television coverage can be an inspiration
NHS medical director Stephen Powis said: ‘Good luck to all the runners taking part in the Great North Run this weekend. Every single one of them is about to become an inspiration to thousands of people – and that’s backed up by our NHS website data.
‘Whenever there’s a televised running race, we always see a considerable increase in the number of people coming to the NHS website for information on the Couch to 5K programme, and this weekend will be no different.'
Professor Powis added: ‘The Couch to 5K programme is a fantastic way of getting beginners running for 30 minutes or more. And who knows – in a year’s time you could be taking your place at the starting line of a half-marathon.'
Steve Cram, a renowned former retired athlete and the Couch to 5K app’s narrator, said: ‘It’s fantastic to see so many people inspired by the Great North Run who want to give running a go and Couch to 5K is a great place to start. It’s really flexible, you can do it all in in your own time, and it’s something that’s achievable for absolutely everyone.
The Couch to 5K programme is a fantastic way of getting beginners running for 30 minutes or more [Stephen Powis]
Latest NHS statistics on public health show that there were 8,716 hospital admissions due to obesity in 2022/23, which was a 13 per cent increase on the previous year.
The Health Survey for England 2021, which was published last year, showed a higher proportion of men (70 per cent) than women (59 per cent) aged 16 and over met the 2011 aerobic guidelines of at least 150 minutes of moderate activity or 75 minutes of vigorous activity per week.
The NHS website refers to strong scientific evidence that being physically active can help you lead a healthier and happier life. Exercise can reduce the risk of major illnesses, such as coronary heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and cancer, and lower the risk of early death by up to 30 per cent.
The Couch to 5K app has recently introduced haptics – vibration alerts on mobile phones – to help better support and guide deaf and hard of hearing runners through runs and the programme.
Click for more details on the NHS Couch to 5k programme
The NHS Couch to 5K app can be downlaoded from the App store or Google Play.
Author: I A McMillan
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