Department of Health

Website of the Department of Health

Please note that this website has a UK government access keys system.

You are here:

At least five a week: Evidence on the impact of physical activity and its relationship to health

A report from the Chief Medical Officer

  • Document type:
    Report
  • Author:
    Department of Health
  • Published date:
    29 April 2004
  • Primary audience:
    Professionals
  • Gateway reference:
    2389
  • Pages:
    128
  • Copyright holder:
    Crown

This document is particularly aimed at the NHS, specifically public health and Primary Care Trusts. The report sets out the latest research evidence of the benefits of physical activity for health. The document is aimed at those concerned with formulating and implementing policies or programmes that utilise the promotion of physical activity, sport, exercise and active travel to achieve health gain.

Contents

1. Summary

2. The importance of physical activity for public health

3. Recommendations for active living throughout the lifecourse

4. Health benefits of physical activity in childhood and adolescence

5. The benefits of physical activity for adult health     5.1 Physical activity and cardiovascular disease
    5.2 Physical activity, overweight and obesity
    5.3 Physical activity and diabetes
    5.4 Physical activity and musculoskeletal health
    5.5 Physical activity, psychological well-being and mental illness
    5.6 Physical activity and cancer

6. Benefits of physical activity for older adults

7. Risks from physical activity

Appendices

  1. Glossary
  2. Previous advice on levels of physical activity
  3. Interventions to increase physical activity among adults
  4. Department of health policy on physical activity
  5. Methods
  6. Acknowledgements

References

Index

Chapterised version

Additional links

Ordering publications

Contact details for obtaining hard-copy DH publications.

Help viewing PDFs

Help viewing PDFs

To view any file in Portable Document Format (PDF) downloaded from this site, you need the Adobe Acrobat Reader program.

Additional Links

Access keys