Better Lives with AIA Vitality: Joyce Wang - How a 'walking school bus' helped me fit exercise into my routine

Before discovering AIA Vitality, Joyce Wang found it difficult to balance her physical health with her family and professional responsibilities – something that was reflected in her initial AIA Vitality Age assessment.

“I was a little bit upset when I got my results – my AIA Vitality Age was slightly older than my real age, but I thought I still looked pretty young!” She laughs. “Before I started using AIA Vitality, I didn’t really consider myself to be fit.”

Joyce discovered a solution to working more exercise into her lifestyle with a communal ‘walking bus’ programme at her daughter’s school. Each morning, parents would meet up and walk their kids to the school gates – and for Joyce, it was just what she was looking for.

“The programme has been amazing. I save time not being stuck in traffic every morning, and I get to meet the other parents and their kids,” she explains.

“It’s a very relaxing thing to do every day – the mums who joined have all grown close with each other now, and I find that I’m bonding with my daughter more and more each day.”

Joyce activated AIA Vitality’s Apple Watch Benefit (meaning she can earn her Apple Watch for free by meeting her weekly Active Benefits targets), and used the smartwatch with the walking school bus programme as a strategy to get in shape. “The Apple Watch is super helpful – it helps me track my daily activity and encourages me to get up and exercise,” she says.

“It really helped me get in touch with AIA Vitality and my body, and even encouraged me to work out more at home. I get at least 7,500 steps every day to get my 50 AIA Vitality Points, then I get on the treadmill for another 30 minutes after work for another 50 points.”

The daily morning walks helped Joyce lose some weight, but the greatest benefit has been an uplift in her mood and lifestyle. “I feel better and more confident,” Joyce explains. “Exercise is always something that I wanted to do but always founds reasons to neglect it. AIA Vitality’s programme encouraged me to continue with the walking school bus each day – so much so that I introduced another parent to AIA Vitality, and now she’s got an Apple Watch of her own. She’s loving how easy the programme is to use from the get-go.”  

Joyce’s dedication to earning AIA Vitality Points propelled her to Platinum Status in just over six months. Her new fitness goals include steadily increasing her time on the treadmill and building up her endurance.

Through her story, Joyce hopes to convey to busy parents that they don’t need to spend extra hours in their day just to exercise. “Get creative and add your physical activities into your daily tasks,” she says. “Walk to school with your children, run on a treadmill or use an exercise bike when you’re watching TV. When you start to incorporate exercise into your daily routine, it becomes much easier to manage your time.”