8
ISSUES: Fitness & Health
Chapter 1: About fitness
Brits missing NHS exercise targets, with
women aged 40–54 the worst offenders
In conjunctionwith Simply Health, YouGov has launched an everyday health tracker,
with the aim of painting the broadest picture yet of UK health and wellbeing.
By Ben Tobin
O
ne major finding the first wave of research has
unearthed is that UK adults are falling well below
NHS exercise targets, with only a minority meeting
current recommendations on aerobic activity.
The NHS aerobic activity target is 150 minutes moderate
intensity per week (e.g. fast walking/cycling) or 75 minutes
vigorous intensity per week (e.g. running, tennis).
31% say that they are aware of the NHS aerobic activity
target, but only 40% assert that they met the target over
the last three months. 39% are doing less than one session
per week. Only one in seven (14%) know about the muscle-
strengthening activity target.
Women perform worse than men on this front, and this
is true across all age groups. Women aged 40–54 are the
least likely to exercise the recommended amount, just 32%
do. 25–39 year old men are most likely to (51%).
What explains the disparity between the recommendation
and the reality? Almost one third (32%) say the lack of
time is the reason, while the same number say it is lack of
willpower to blame.
Among those that do manage to do
regular aerobic exercise, the most
popular reason for doing it is simply
“to feel better overall” (50%). 47% want
to raise the general fitness while 41%
say their motivation is to lose weight.
Other reasons include “to increase
energy levels” (20%) and increase
attractiveness to others (8%).
13 August 2015
Ö
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“31% say that they are aware of the
NHS aerobic activity target, but only
40% assert that they met the target
over the last three months”
Everyday health tracker
Frequency of 30 minute sessions of aerobic activity over the last three months
At least once a day
Six times a week
Five times a week
Four times a week
Three times a week
Two times a week
Once a week
Once every two weeks
Once every month
Less often
Source: YouGov, 2015
9%
3%
6%
9%
13%
11%
11%
5%
5%
29%
