Some habits only seem small as long as they remain on paper. Half an hour away from home, a stretch along the canal, a trip around the block, a journey made on foot instead of sitting on a bus for two stops. In England the public health service is trying to transform this simple, almost banal thing into a national challenge: walk 30 minutes a day and receive prizes, incentives or discounts in exchange. A kind of marathon broken down into tiny pieces, without a number on the chest and without a crowd at the finish line.
The project, linked to NHS England, should start at the beginning of 2027 under the name “marathon a month”. The idea is this: those who walk every day for about half an hour arrive, within a month, at a symbolic distance close to 26 miles, the 42 kilometers of the marathon. Participants will be able to record their outings online, with their smartphone or with a smartwatch; those who complete the challenge will enter the rewards system, yet to be defined in detail, which could include vouchers, discounts and other rewards.
The marathon without registration
The first part of the program will be paid for by NHS England. Then, the intentions should also include philanthropic funding and support from large companies, a step that makes the project more ambitious and also more delicate. When public health meets rewards, apps, brands and coupons, the line between prevention and marketing becomes thin. However, the most concrete fact remains: walking is free, accessible to many people and simple enough to fit into a normal day.
In the first reactions collected among the younger ones, the tone seems favorable. Lauren Andrew, for example, explained that a challenge broken into small blocks would be easier to sustain: no gym, no membership, just a walk. On incentives, however, it was more pragmatic: an abstract discount weighs less than something that actually arrives in your hand, even a coffee, a drink, a small prize. Others under 25 have admitted that the “play” part can work. The drive to maintain a daily series, which in apps becomes a streak, has already trained a generation to fear the missed day more than the effort itself.
The mechanism looks right there: Snapchat, Duolingo, calendar full of flames, notifications that remind you how good you were yesterday and how much you could ruin everything today. Applied to health, this language has an almost comical side and a very serious one. If a series of consecutive days can convince someone to get off the couch and go out for a walk, that little psychological blackmail becomes a tool. A little clever, sure. But less absurd than a lot of public health advice written as if people all lived in a ministerial brochure.
Also behind the campaign is Sir Brendan Foster, former Olympic distance runner and founder of the Great North Run, one of the best-known races in the North East of England. His role is curious precisely because it comes from the world of running, while here the objective is much lower, more daily, more human: to get people to walk. The challenge aims to involve over 100 thousand participants, with statistics recorded digitally. If he succeeded, Foster considers it a sort of collective record-breaking marathon, a gigantic race made by people who perhaps run zero meters and that’s fine.
The numbers of sedentary lifestyle weigh
The health reason lies in the data, which are less cheerful than vouchers. In England, according to Sport England, in the period between November 2024 and November 2025, 64.6% of adults, equal to 30.9 million people, achieved the recommended levels of physical activity, i.e. at least 150 minutes per week of moderate intensity movement. However, there remains a huge share of inactive people: around a quarter of adults do less than 30 minutes of moderate activity per week.
The English health service has long reported that physical inactivity is associated with around one in six deaths in the United Kingdom. Guidelines for adults indicate at least 150 minutes per week of moderate activity, or 75 minutes of vigorous activity, spread over several days, along with muscle-strengthening exercises at least twice per week. A brisk walk falls fully within this framework: even ten minutes a day can contribute to the weekly total, if it really becomes a habit.
The strongest promise is that linked to years of healthy life. According to Foster, walking 30 minutes five days a week could give you up to four more years of healthy life. Put like this, it sounds like a phrase from a motivational manifesto, but it has a basis in the logic of prevention: moving reduces the risk of cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, some forms of cancer, frailty and worsening of many chronic conditions. When walking becomes regular, it stops being a pastime and becomes a small personal infrastructure.
The prize helps, the road decides
The plan is part of the broader 10 Year Health Plan for England, the ten-year program with which the English government wants to shift the center of gravity of the healthcare system: more prevention, more services close to people, more digital. Within this framework, rewarding walking has a precise political sense. The public health system is under pressure and any habit capable of reducing avoidable diseases becomes interesting. Prevention costs less than a full ward, at least when it is taken seriously before the emergency.
The fragile part is right here. Incentivizing individuals can work with those who already have a minimum amount of time, security, autonomy, decent shoes, passable sidewalks, a neighborhood that can be crossed without feeling in danger. For others, daily walking remains less simple than it seems. Sonia Pombo, head of research and impact at Action on Salt & Sugar, welcomed the idea of making the movement simpler and more rewarding, adding however that public health also needs structural measures, especially for children and for food prevention.
And in fact the English conversation about walking is moving out of the single app. The government has also set the goal of getting 60% of children between 5 and 16 years old to walk, cycle or move actively to go to school by 2035, with safer routes and interventions on the roads around schools. Here prevention finally comes back to earth: fewer cars in front of the gates, better crossings, daily journeys that become movement without the need to call it sport.
Details of the voucher system will arrive in the coming months. In the meantime, the most interesting image remains: a health service that tries to reward those who go out for a walk, while trying to speak the language of apps without handing over all health to gamification. A walk remains a walk. It can fit into a smartwatch, sure. But it really works when it comes off the screen and finds space on the sidewalk.
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