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Knowledge Hub: Physical Activity Guidelines
Explore our knowledge hub to access the latest physical activity guidelines and keep up to date with changes to guidelines.
UK Chief Medical Officers' Report
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Physical activity guidelines
The UK’s physical activity guidelines are issued by the country’s Chief Medical Officers (CMOs), providing recommendations for how active adults and children should be to maintain a healthy lifestyle. There are separate guidelines for older adults (over 65), disabled adults, children under five, and pregnant women and new mums.
What are the UK’s physical activity guidelines?
The guidelines recommend that adults do at least 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) of moderate-intensity aerobic activity a week, as well as muscle-strengthening activities on at least two days a week. The strengthening activity should work all major muscles (legs, hips, back, stomach, chest, shoulders and arms).
Children aged 5-18 should do at least one hour of energetic activity every day, such as running, skipping, swimming or cycling. On at least three days a week, they should do some exercise that helps develop their muscles and bones, such as hopscotch, gymnastics, climbing or lifting.
What is moderate-intensity exercise?
Moderate-intensity aerobic activity means you’re working hard enough to raise your heart rate and feel warmer. Examples of moderate activity include brisk walking, cycling, water aerobics, dancing and hiking.
What is vigorous exercise?
Vigorous-intensity activity makes you breathe hard and fast, meaning you won’t be able to hold a conversation without pausing for breath. Because it’s double the intensity, doing vigorous exercise means you can halve the recommended activity time. Examples of vigorous activity include running, fast swimming or cycling, gymnastics, martial arts, aerobics, skipping rope, walking up stairs, and sport.
Health Benefits of Physical Activity
Physical activity has a host of benefits on physical and mental health. Regular activity has been shown to:
- improves sleep
- maintains healthy weight
- manages stress
- improves quality of life
Physical activity reduces your chance of:
- type 2 diabetes by up to 40%
- cardiovascular disease by up to 35%
- falls and depression by up to 30%
- joint and back pain by up to 25%
- cancers (colon and breast) by up to 20%
Although the guidelines lay out how much exercise different groups should be doing, any amount of physical activity is better than none. In general, the more time spent being physically active, the greater the health benefits. However, the gains are especially significant for those currently doing the lowest levels of activity (fewer than 30 minutes per week), as the improvements in health per additional minute of physical activity will be proportionately greater.
Take a look below at the physical activity guideline infographics for different groups.
Adults and Older adults
Adults and Older adults should aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity per week (increased breathing, able to talk) or at least 75 minutes of vigorous intensity per week (breathing fast, difficulty talking), or a combination of both.
Build strength
To keep muscles, bones and joints strong, build strength on at least 2 days a week.
Minimise sedentary time Break up periods of inactivity.
Balance activities for older adults - Take part in balance activities 2 days a week to reduce the chance of frailty and falls.
Physical Activity Guidelines - Disabled adults
Make physical activity a daily habit. For substantial health gains aim for at least 150 minutes each week of moderate intensity activity. Physical activity has many benefits for disabled adults, including
- improves mental health and quality of life
- makes maintaining a healthy weight easier
- makes daily tasks easier and increases independence
- strengthens muscles and bones
- improves fitness
- improves mobility and balance
- helps to prevent chronic disease
- creates opportunities to meet new people and feel part of the community
Even a little movement is better than nothing.
Do strength and balance activities on at least 2 days per week.
Early Years - Birth to 5 years
Aim for at least 180 minutes per day for children aged 1 to 5 years. Examples of appropriate physical activity include: playground, jumping, climbing, messy play, throwing and catching, skipping, object play, dancing, games, swimming, walking, using a scooter, riding a bike
Under 1s
Aim for at least 30 minutes across the day for under 1s. Examples of appropriate physical activity include those listed above, and tummy time.
Children and Young People
Find ways to help all children and young people accumulate an average of at least 60 minutes of physical activity per day across the week.. Spread activity throughout the day. All activities should make you breathe faster and feel warmer.
Physical activity for disabled children and young people
Getting and staying active is about:
- equality
- inclusivity
- finding what’s fun
- exploring what activities make you feel good
Benefits of physical activity
- meet new people
- confidence and concentration
- sense of achievement
- mental health
- calmer, less stressed
- balance and coordination
- muscles and motor skills
How much physical activity should I do?
For good health benefits, do 20 minutes of physical activity per day.
When starting, build up slowly. Ask: can you do this today?
Do bitesize chunks of physical activity throughout the day.
Do challenging but manageable strength and balance activities 3 times per week.
Small amounts of physical activity are good for you as well.
Physical activity for pregnant women
Physical activity has many benefits for pregnant women. If you’re not active, start gradually. If you’re already active, keep going.
Throughout pregnancy aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity every week. Listen to your body and adapt.
Do not bump the bump.
Physical activity for women after childbirth
Following childbirth aim for 150 minutes of moderate activity a week. If you’re not active, start gradually.
If you were active before, restart gradually.
Start pelvic floor exercises as soon as you can and continue daily. Build back up to muscle strengthening activities twice a week.
It’s safe to be active. There is no evidence of harm for post-partum women. Depending on your delivery listen to your body and start gently. You can be active while breastfeeding.
Get Active: A strategy for the future of sport and physical activity
Published in August 2023, ‘Get Active: A strategy for the future of sport and physical activity’ is the government’s national strategy to help get more people active by 2030.
This national strategy details how the Government plan to tackle 1 in 4 adults being currently inactive, with 11 million adults doing less than 30 minutes of exercise a week, and half of the nation’s children doing less than the recommended 60 minutes of exercise per day. The strategy outlines the plan to increase national participation levels with a new National Physical Activity Taskforce from both government and the sector to drive it forward and track progress of the goals to get 2.5 million more adults and over 1 million more children active by 2030.
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