More movement and sustainability in everyday campus life

In the sense of nudging (meaning: nudge or push, here in the sense of impulse, incentive or stimulus), students and employees at the Campus Center are encouraged to behave in a more sustainable and healthy way without feeling directly addressed. Nudging is a method that aims to influence people's decisions through gentle, playful incentives without compromising their freedom.

The signage is made from environmentally friendly materials and contains short messages to encourage people to climb stairs and use paper towels and water sparingly. "We want to show that health and sustainability go hand in hand. Each contribution to your own activity also conserves resources," says Dr. Jana Winter from the Green Office. Each time the steps are used, elevator rides are avoided, which in turn saves energy. The messages in the sanitary facilities can also lead to savings in paper and water, which in addition to the ecological effects also leads to an improvement in financial efficiency and a reduction in operating costs.

At the same time, climbing stairs promotes physical fitness and well-being. "This mini-workout can usually be integrated into everyday life without any complications and thus brings many long-term benefits for body and mind," say Leonie Lourens from study well and Katrin Fensterer from occupational health management. Numerous studies have shown that climbing stairs has positive effects on mental health and the cardiovascular system. For example, climbing stairs lifts the mood and thus increases subjective well-being. Physically, it also strengthens the muscles and increases calorie consumption and can even counteract chronic diseases such as the development of type 2 diabetes.

More information on the Green Move idea and its positive effects on health and the environment can be found on the following website:

https://www.uni-kassel.de/hochschulverwaltung/gesundes-arbeiten/greenmove.html.