CHB 4.2: How should Health Building be implemented?

The current scientific literature provides clear guidelines for ‘countermeasures’ as a prevention for the consequences, challenges and risks of prolonged remote working and COVID-19 confinements which were extensively discussed in the previous sections. Since this section is intended to deliver a clear implementation strategy, these recommendations should only be briefly mentioned and given references may be used for further clarification. With strong agreement, authors and major health institutions such as the WHO and ACSM recommend engaging in regular physical activity and exercise, i.e. resistance exercise, aerobic exercise, mobility/stretching/yoga, as well as principles for nutritional strategies, i.e. diet quality (protein intake, food choice, supplementation, management of energy balance) that further enhance the effectiveness of the formers (Chtourou et al., 2020; Denay et al., 2020; Kirwan et al., 2020; WHO, 2018,2020b; Woods et al., 2020). Thereafter, Guadalupe et al. 2020 have developed home-based exercise regimes for older populations while further protocols are yet to be finalized. However, history has shown that despite clear and strong evidence for the benefits of adequate physical activity, exercise and nutrition strategies as well as concrete recommendations for parameters that should be fulfilled, the implementation and application is rather disappointing (Steele et al., 2017). In fact, many people still fail to meet the minimum recommendations even prior COVID-19 confinements and have moved even further away from those since the start of remote working (Ammar et al., 2020). While recommendations already exist with undoubted effectiveness when performed accordingly (WHO, 2018) it seems that more support is required for individuals to grasp the consequences of inaction and more guidance is essential to help in executing the recommendations adequately. Hence, the main challenge appears to be translation of concluding findings adequately, pragmatically and safely from academic to real-world settings, i.e. home-environments. It seems, that both theoretical education, i.e. forming an understanding for why and how to engage in these activities, and practical application, i.e. guidance and supervision for activity engagement, are necessary. Thereafter, specialists that can derive concrete strategies based upon academic recommendations and are capable to lead as a teacher, coach and trainer are needed. Though, inherent consequences of the current conditions, e.g. closure of gyms, and when open, hard to access during peak-times while working hours often don’t allow commuting to a sport facility and back during the day and people seem to be less likely to engage in exercise in the evening following a remote working day, leave little room for people to engage in those recommended activities. Thereafter, in order to facilitate the application of recommendations, companies have to provide opportunities for their employees to engage in these activities, offering an environment in which employees can meet WHO guidelines and therefore saving their health while securing overall corporate performance. As such, the below shows an overview of the required topics that will be covered in the Health Building Strategy. It represents a combination of theoretical education and practical application that starts at the core of healthy habit creation through behavior and lifestyle changes based on scientific evidence. Rather than giving a protocol, this strategy will be implemented as an intervention in a scientific study, i.e. frequent and regular guidance over a longer period of time, with the intention to form core habits that will succeed to be sustained through providing adequate tools.