National guidance
So, how much should we move? The UK's Chief Medical Officer (CMO) has set out guidelines about how much we should move each week, broken down across the life course, and for certain population groups. It's important to remember that this can be both formal and informal physical activity - for example, walking the dog, cycling to school, going to the gym or participating in a club.
These are:
- Children under the age of 1 should get at least 30 minutes of tummy time daily
- Children between the ages of 1 and 5 should aim to be active for at least 180 minutes per day, which can be across a range of play, recreation and functional movement activities
- Aim for an average of at least 60 minutes per day across the week
- Use a range of activities to develop movement skills, muscle and bone strength
- Aim for 20 minutes of physical activity per day
- Include challenging but manageable strength and balance activities three times per week
- Do bitesize chunks of physical activity throughout the day - even small amounts of activity are good for you
- Aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity (where your breathing rate is increased, but you are still able to talk), or 75 minutes of vigorous activity (where you are breathing fast and have difficulty talking), or a combination of both, per week
- Minimise sedentary time
- Include activities that build strength at least twice a week
- Older adults should look to include activities that improve balance twice a week
- If possible, aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity per week
- Include strength and balance activities on at least 2 days a week
- Don't be still for too long - even a little movement is better than nothing
- Engaging in regular moderate-intensity exercise during pregnancy is highly beneficial, supporting both maternal and foetal health. Staying active helps manage weight, improve cardiovascular function, reduce pregnancy-related complications, and enhances overall well-being. Pregnant women should adjust their exercise routines as needed to ensure a safe and effective approach to physical activity. Throughout pregnancy aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity per week - but remember, whilst more is better, every minute counts
- Muscle strengthening activities twice a week can help
- Depends on your delivery, listen to your body and start gently
- Aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity per week
- Start pelvic floor exercises as soon as you can and continue daily
- Build back up to doing muscle-strengthening activities twice a week.
Despite the benefits of physical activity, data shows us that for many people committing to this level of activity every week can be challenging.
The most recent data from Sport England's annual Active Lives Survey (Active Lives data tables - Sport England ) shows that in Kirklees:
- 63% of adults are physically active (defined as being active for 150 minutes or more per week)
- 12% of adults are fairly active (defined as being active for 30 - 149 minutes per week)
- 26% of adults are inactive (defined as being active for less than 30 minutes per week).
And for Kirklees children (Active Lives data tables - Children and Young People - Sport England ):
- 52% of children are physically active (defined as more than 60 minutes per day on average)
- 22% of children are fairly active (defined as between 30 - 59 minutes per day on average)
- 26% of children are inactive (defined as less than 30 minutes per day on average).
The key things to remember are:
- Try to limit the amount of time you spend sitting or lying down
- Adults should try to do some muscle strengthening activities each week
- "Some is good, more is better!" - This means that it's not only the people achieving the recommended weekly amount of physical activity that will gain any benefit. Everyone will notice health benefits from increasing their levels of physical activity. In fact, the greatest benefit to health is found amongst people who have very low levels of physical activity increasing their activity, even by a small amount.
From a health perspective, enabling more people who are currently classed as 'inactive' to move towards becoming 'fairly active' will deliver the greatest health improvements and reduce pressure on our health services.
