Data Reporter Niamh McIntyre shares this latest news as part of the OnTheWight’s collaboration with Press Association and Urbs Media. Ed
A national sport survey has found that 62.3% of people on the Isle of Wight get the recommended two and a half hours of physical activity a week.
This is just over the national average of 61.8%.
The NHS says adults should get two and a half hours of moderate activity such as running, walking or cycling a week. But the figures also show that 26.3% of people are officially classified as “inactive”, as they did not manage half an hour’s exercise a week.
Exeter top of the table
The figures come from the Active Lives Survey, an annual questionnaire which asks people over the age of 16 in every local authority in England about how much sport and physical activity they do, and covers the period between November 2016 and November 2017.
The most active place in the country was Exeter, where 77.4% exercised for two and a half hours in an average week. The least active was Great Yarmouth, where just under half managed the recommended 150 minutes.
Who is more likely to exercise?
Nationally, people from higher socio-economic groups were much more likely to exercise regularly than poorer people.
Long-term unemployed people or those who had never worked were the most likely to be inactive, the Active Lives Survey found.
Walking most popular activity
The survey found walking was the most popular activity in England with 18.6 million people walking for leisure at least twice a month.
While the number of people cycling and swimming was down, there was a significant increase of 518,000 more people doing interval training sessions, such as high intensity interval training classes, since the previous year’s survey.
Tackling inactivity
Jennie Price, Sport England’s chief executive, said in a statement:
“While the overall activity levels of the nation are stable, what people are choosing to do is moving with the times.
“The popularity of interval training shows the power of social media, and many older people are choosing to spend their leisure time in the great outdoors.
“The figures also show the huge importance of investing to tackle inactivity and the inequalities between different groups in society. It’s why Sport England’s 2017-21 strategy has, for the first time, allocated 25% of its investment to tackling inactivity.
“This is a long-term task but it could not be more important.”
Image: © Nick Edwards – Wight Seen
