Talking about physical activity

One person dies of physical inactivity every 15 minutes. Health professionals can spark movement with a one minute conversation. This talk is urgent.

A health professional needs to speak to 12 patients, on average, to get one inactive person to meet the Chief Medical Officer guidelines for physical activity. This compares to 50-120 smokers to stop one person smoking.

Physical inactivity causes 1 in 6 deaths in the UK. But, with your help, we can get more people moving.

There is no situation, there is no age and no condition where exercise is not a good thing.

Chris Whitty, England's Chief Medical Officer

Current guidance

Nearly three quarters of GPs say they lack the knowledge, skills or confidence to speak about physical activity. So here’s a quick tour of the latest physical activity guidance. What’s right for an individual will vary but the overriding message is simple: some activity is better than none.

Your questions answered

What are the current guidelines for adults and older adults?

The Chief Medical Officer recommends that all adults over the age of 19 should:

  • be active daily
  • do at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity per week in bouts of 10 minutes or more
  • or do 75 minutes of vigorous intensity physical activity spread across the week or a combination of moderate and vigorous intensity activity
  • do physical activity to improve muscle strength on at least 2 days per week

150 minutes of moderate intensity activity also applies to disabled people and pregnant women.

View the Department of Health and Social Care infographic for adults and older adults.

What are the guidelines for children aged 0-5 years?

The Chief Medical Officer recommends that all children aged 0-5 years should aim for 180 minutes of movement per day.

For children aged 1 year and under, this should include at least 30 minutes of tummy time across the day.

View the Department of Health and Social Care infographic for children aged 0-5 years.

 

What are the guidelines for children and young people aged 5-18 years?

The Chief Medical Officer recommends that all children and young people aged 5-18 years should aim for an average of at least 60 minutes of movement per day across the week. This can be broken up into 30 minutes at home and 30 minutes during the school day.

View the Department of Health and Social Care infographic for children and young people aged 5-18 years.

Would it be OK to spend 1 minute talking about something many patients with [your condition] find really helpful?

Moving Medicine conversation starter

Healthy conversations

We know health professionals are often short on time. And people can be defensive when told to exercise more. But a quick conversation framed in the right way can have a huge impact on a patient’s health. Take a look at the links below or chat to Emily about training and support.

Moving Medicine

Find everything you need to have 1-minute, 5-minute and longer conversations with impact. Choose an age group and health condition to get started.

Visit site

Royal College of General Practitioners

The RCGP Physical Activity and Lifestyle Toolkit provides useful resources for patients, practitioners and commissioners.

Visit site

Become an Active Practice

Active Practices are GP surgeries that support patients and staff to move more. They report benefits to staff morale, patient health, and engagement.

Sign up to the Active Practice Charter and make some simple changes to show your patients and staff that you mean it when you say that movement is the best medicine.

Read next

Physical activity signposting tools

Help patients find an activity to suit them and their condition.

Physical activity for health training

Develop skills to help patients reduce their risk of diseases.

We Are Undefeatable campaign logo and man with surgery scar

We Are Undefeatable

Supporting people with long-term health conditions to be active.

Our Partners

Helping us tackle inactivity to boost health and happiness

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