The proportion of adults participating in recommended levels of physical activity. Recommended level of physical activity is defined as moderate intensity sport and active recreation on 20 or more days (averaging 5 or more times per week) in the previous 4 weeks. “Moderate intensity sport and active recreation” is defined as a 30 minute session of activity such as cycling, walking, sport and recreational physical activity. For walking, moderate activity is defined as walking at a “fairly brisk pace” or a “fast pace”. For cycling and other sport and recreational activity, moderate activity was defined as where the effort required was enough to raise the individual’s breathing rate, make the respondent out of breath or sweat. The indicator is based on weighted data.
This indicator estimates the proportion of adults participating in physical activity beneficial to health. People who have a physically active lifestyle are at approximately half the risk of developing coronary heart disease compared to those who have a sedentary lifestyle. Regular physical activity is also associated with a reduced risk of diabetes, obesity, osteoporosis and colon cancer and with improved mental health. In older adults physical activity is associated with increased functional capacities. In terms of mortality, morbidity and quality of life, the Chief Medical Officer has estimated the cost of inactivity in England to be £8.2 billion annually. This indicator can be used to estimate the prevalence of physical activity beneficial to health in the population and to monitor the effectiveness of programmes aimed at increasing the participation of adults in sport and active recreation. This indicator is also a measure of health need i.e. the ability to benefit from public health interventions aiming to improve levels of physical activity beneficial to health in the adult population.
This indicator has been discontinued and so there will be no further updates.
Legacy unique identifier: P01072