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The Health Benefits of Physical Activity

  • Last modified date:
    9 February 2007

There is substantial evidence to support the role of physical activity in promoting good health. Regular physical activity decreases the risk of coronary heart disease, stroke and diabetes, and the associated risk factors such as hypertension and obesity. Physical activity also has a role in preventing falls among older people.

To put this in context:

  • Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) alone accounted for 100,000 deaths in 2000.
  • Around 1.3 million people in England are diagnosed with diabetes
  • Each year 110,000 people in England and Wales have their first stroke, and 30,000 people go on to have further strokes.
  • Over 400,000 older people in England attend A&E Departments following an accident and up to 14,000 people a year die in the UK as a result of an osteoporotic hip fracture.
  • 41% of men and 33% of women have high blood pressure

Of particular concern are the rising levels of obesity, which have tripled in the last twenty years. If the trend continues, over a quarter of adults in England will be obese by 2010. A recent National Audit Office report outlined the significant costs of obesity to the NHS and the economy. In 1998, obesity accounted for:

  • 18 million days of sickness absence
  • 40,000 lost years of working life
  • 30,000 deaths - of which 9,000 related to obesity before state retirement age
  • £0.5 billion cost to the NHS
  • £2 billion indirect costs to the economy

Physical activity can help to prevent these conditions - in the case of CHD, experts have found that physically inactive people have about double the risk of CHD. For physical activity there is a comparable level of decreased risk to that of other lifestyle factors, such as not smoking.

Effective and well planned services to increase exercise will help deliver a number of milestones in the National Service Frameworks (NSFs) for Coronary Heart Disease, Older People, Diabetes and Mental Health. They will also help prevent some cancers, and move us towards the Our Healthier Nation (OHN) target of reducing deaths from CHD and stroke.

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