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ISSUES: Fitness & Health
Key Facts
Key facts
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To get all the benefits of exercise, each week adults
should aim to do one of the following:
•
at least two and a half hours of moderate intensity
exercise over a week in bouts of ten minutes or more
•
an hour and 15 minutes of vigorous intensity activity
•
an equal mix of moderate and vigorous intensity
activity
PLUS:
•
at least twice-weekly activities that build up muscle
strength, such as lifting weights or exercises
using your body weight (push-ups and sit-ups for
example). (page 1)
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Exercise can reduce your risk of major illnesses, such as
heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and cancer by up
to 50% and lower your risk of early death by up to 30%.
(page 2)
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It’s medically proven that people who do regular physical
activity have:
•
up to a 35% lower risk of coronary heart disease and
stroke
•
up to a 50% lower risk of type 2 diabetes
•
up to a 50% lower risk of colon cancer
•
up to a 20% lower risk of breast cancer
•
a 30% lower risk of early death
•
up to an 83% lower risk of osteoarthritis
•
up to a 68% lower risk of hip fracture
•
a 30% lower risk of falls (among older adults) (page
2)
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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). (page 8)
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31% of people 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. (page 8)
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Children taking part in organised sports and physical
activities at the ages of five, seven and 11 were almost
one and a half times more likely to reach a higher than
expected level in their Key Stage 2 (KS2) maths test at
age 11. No relationship was found between organised
sports and activities and KS2 English and science scores.
(page 11)
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Levels of physical inactivity in England are very high;
nearly 80 per cent of the population do not hit key
national government targets. (page 14)
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Nearly everyone (95%) agrees that parks and play areas
should be protected from development and 82 per
cent feel so strongly that they would be motivated to
campaign against a park loss. Two thirds (69%) state
that the loss of parks would be detrimental to children’s
development and half of respondents admitted that
they would be less active if their local green space was
lost. (page 15)
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Research found almost half of people say using their
local park helps them to feel healthier (48%), with 70%
of 16- to 24-year-olds also feeling less stressed as a result
of having access to green space. Spending quality time
with the family and feeling part of a community were
also identified as important. Nearly a quarter of people
(24%) use their local park at least twice a week. (page 15)
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14.3 per cent of UK adults now own gym memberships.
(page 16)
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Overweight, or pre-obesity, is defined as a BMI of 25–
29.9 kg/m2, while a BMI >30 kg/m2 defines obesity.
(page 18)
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The average physically active man needs about 2,500
calories a day to maintain a healthy weight, and the
average physically active woman needs about 2,000
calories a day. (page 20)
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Between 2005 and 2014, the proportion of adults who
were either overweight or obese decreased slightly
from 60.9% to 60.5%. However, this is due to a fall in the
proportion of overweight adults, as the proportion of
obese (I–III) adults has risen from 23.4% to 24.8%. (page
21)
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The UK currently ranks as the country with the highest
level of obesity in Europe, with more than one in four
(28.1%) adults obese and nearly two out of three (63.4%)
overweight. (page 23)
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Today nearly a third of children aged two to 15 are
overweight or obese. (page 24)
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58% of people say they pay a lot of attention to their
health, compared to 3% who hardly ever think about it.
(page 29)
