Physical activity: key points

Public health implications

• Regular physical activity of at least moderate intensity (such as brisk walking or cycling) provides general health benefits across a range of diseases and across all ages.
• The greatest health benefits occur when the least active people become moderately active.
• Public Health Scotland have published a report estimating the burden of disease attributable to physical inactivity in Scotland

Physical activity policy

• The UK Chief Medical Officers’ Physical Activity Guidelines recommend that adults aged 19-64 should accumulate at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity (MPA); or 75 minutes of vigorous intensity activity (VPA); or even shorter durations of very vigorous intensity activity; or a combination of moderate, vigorous and very vigorous intensity activity. Surveys that ask about physical activity often consider both MPA and VPA, known as moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, or MVPA.
• The guidelines also recommend that adults do muscle strengthening and balance training activities at least two times a week and minimise sedentary time.
• The guidelines recommend that children should engage in an average of at least 60 minutes per day of MVPA, and minimise sedentary time.
• The Scottish Government’s Active Scotland Outcomes Framework sets out the Government’s ambitions for sport and physical activity.
• Along with eating well and having a healthy weight, being physically active forms one of the six Public Health Priorities for Scotland published jointly by the Scottish Government and COSLA in 2018. Together, these six public health priorities aim to achieve 'a Scotland where everybody thrives.'
• The Scottish Government's vision for achieving a more active Scotland is supported by Scotland's Physical Activity Delivery Plan, A More Active Scotland, launched in July 2018.
• The Active Travel Framework, produced by Transport Scotland and key delivery partners, collates key policy approaches aiming to increase the levels of active travel (walking or cycling) in Scotland.
• Public Health Scotland have produced, ‘A Systems-based Approach to Physical Activity: A Framework for Action at a National and Local Level’, which translates the World Health Organisation’s Global Action Plan for Physical Activity and the International Society for Physical Activity and Public Health’s Eight Investments that Work for Physical Activity into a Scottish context.

Physical activity levels in Scotland

• An estimated 65% of adults (aged 16 years and over) met the physical activity guidelines in 2022 (Scottish Health Survey 2022 - Physical Activity).
• Men were more likely than women to meet physical activity guidelines in 2022 (70% and 60%, respectively; Scottish Health Survey 2022 - Physical Activity).
• Adults in the most deprived areas of Scotland were least likely to be physically active (Scottish Health Survey 2022 - Physical Activity).
• In 2022, an estimated 69% of children (aged 5-15 years) in Scotland met the physical activity guideline for children when including activity done at school (Scottish Health Survey 2022 - Physical Activity).