The word from Bupa and YuLife;
Bupa’s annual Healthy Cities challenge turns healthy habits into environmental action. Participants are encouraged to walk, run, wheel and stay active, with their collective efforts unlocking funding for urban regeneration projects. In 2025, the programme reached more than one million people across 50+ cities and invested £3m in helping create greener and healthier communities. Partnering with YuLife enabled Bupa to bring the 2026 challenge to thousands more people across UK workplaces this summer.
The power of partnership
Through partnering with YuLife, Bupa expanded its Healthy Cities programme to more than 1,200 workplaces across the UK, connecting employee wellbeing with environmental action at scale. By combining YuLife’s in-app incentives and YuLeague competition with Healthy Cities’ people-and-planet mission, the activation engaged 41,000 employees.
During the 30-day challenge this June, YuLife members walked 9.2 billion steps and spent 11.2 million minutes meditating, unlocking funding to plant 36,972 trees through Earthly and supporting the removal of close to two tonnes of ocean plastic through Big Blue Ocean Cleanup.
The biggest gains came from those who were least active to begin with, demonstrating the programme’s ability to inspire meaningful behaviour change among those who stand to benefit most.
The health impact
On the days YuLife participants took part in campaign events, members aged 40 to 49 took an extra 1,566 steps, and those aged 50+ took an extra 1,036 steps. Older members are usually the hardest group to engage with a digital wellbeing programme, which makes that response stand out. The least active members improved most of all. Those who typically averaged under 2,500 steps a day increased their movement by 48%. Across the wider group, nearly 12,000 members were walking more in June than in May, taking 1,408 extra steps on a typical day, a 17% lift on their own usual pace.
Across five health categories measured on the Dynamic Health Questionnaire, with roughly 20,000 to 25,000 paired members per category, participants improved markedly against their own pre-campaign answers.Members aged 40+ saw the biggest gains in two areas: how their physical health affects attendance, and how stress and mental wellbeing affect absence. These are the areas most closely tied to time off work and claims risk, and they improved most in the age group where that risk runs highest. Younger members, aged 18 to 29, improved most in behavioural health and tobacco use, the preventative end of the spectrum where good habits set in early.
The feedback backs this up. 59% said the Healthy Cities challenge motivated them to keep moving more regularly, and 53% said it gave their mental wellbeing a boost. Alongside that, 70% said they would take part again, 48% said they feel healthier since taking part, and 44% said it made them feel more connected to their colleagues. (Based on 1,174 survey respondents.)
“I was recovering from hospital admission so it gave me a target to get back to my normal steps.” YuLife member
Sustained daily movement at this level is one of the strongest signals of better long-term health, and the gains matter most if members keep them up. Two signs make that likely: the biggest increases came from those who were least active to start with, while everyone else is holding their activity high.
Lauren Berkemeyer, Chief Marketing Officer, YuLife, said, “Expanding Bupa’s Healthy Cities challenge to the YuLife platform has been one of the highlights of our year.. Together we got 41,000 people moving, planted nearly 37,000 trees and removed nearly two tonnes of plastic from the ocean. This is what happens when two organisations that care as much about people as they do the planet decide to build something together.”
Anna Russell, ESG & Employee Experience Director, Bupa, said: “At Bupa, we believe that healthier people and a healthier planet go hand in hand. Through our partnership with YuLife, we’ve been able to bring Healthy Cities to thousands more people across the UK, helping them build healthier habits while supporting environmental action. The strong engagement we’ve seen – particularly from those who were least active to begin with – demonstrates the power of giving people a shared purpose and a meaningful reason to move more.”
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