Here at Smarter Mortgages we thought it would be useful to help you make full use of your policy to ensure you are able to gain the full benefits Vitality has to offer.

There are 4 levels within your Vitality policy: Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum.

When starting out, everyone will be at the Bronze level (0 points). When you reach 800 points (1,200 for a joint policy) you become a Silver member, 1,600 points (2,400 for a joint policy) you become a Gold member and once you hit 2,400 points (3,600 for a joint policy) you become a platinum member.

How to earn points with Vitality

When you sign up to Vitality there are a whole load of points you can earn through completing declarations and the Vitality Healthcheak. To reach Silver straight away you could easily complete the following:

• Online health review – 100 points per year
• Online non-smokers declaration – 100 points per year
• Vitality health check with pharmacy non-smokers declaration – 300 points
• For every healthy measurement within the Vitality health check – 60 points, if you get all 4 measurements as healthy that’s 240 points
• Dentist Check up – 100 points per year
• Fitness assessment at participating gym – 60 points for taking part, 60 points for a healthy measurement.

Completing all of the above and getting healthy measurements can get you 960 points, shooting you to a Silver member right away!

To reach the next level of Gold within the year you would need to earn another 800 points, for a simple way to achieve this you could complete any of the following twice a week:

• 12,500 steps; OR
• 30 minute workout; OR
• 60 minutes cycling.

If you feel this is more than achievable and want to earn even more points and aim for Platimum level, then an example of how to gain the extra 1,600 points could be:

• Work out at the gym twice a week – gets you 500 points for the year
• 12,500 steps; OR 30-minute workout; OR 60 minutes cycling three times a week – gets you 1,200 points for the year.

We have broken down how you can earn points by being active below:

• Completing a gym session at the participating partner gyms – 5 points per day
• All day steps – 3 points for reaching 7,000 steps a day, 5 points for reaching 10,000 steps a day, 8 points for reaching 12,500 steps per day
• Workout (based on heart rate) – 5 points when working out at 60% of your age related maximum heart rate for 30 minutes continuously, 8 points when working out at 60% of your age related maximum heart rate for 30 minutes continuously, 8 points when working out at 70% of your age related maximum heart rate for 30 minutes
• Completing a park run – 8 points

Other ways you can earn points that you might not think of includes losing weight with Weight Watchers, earning yourself 50 points when you have lost 5% of your starting weight, 10% of your starting weight and 100 points when you have reached your goal weight. You can also earn 15 points for attending  wellness workshops. Completing Mindful activities is another way to earn points, 2 points per day when you hae completed 10 minutes or more with a participating app such as Headspace, Buddhify, Calm or The Mindfulness App.

If you are asking yourself ‘well how do these points benefit me?’ head over to our post explaining the benefits of Vitality for you.