Unfit British exposed
Friday December 18th, 2009
The British are not nearly as fit as they think they are, according to figures published yesterday.
Just five per cent of the nation's adult population achieve minimum fitness standards for health, according to a detailed study.
Researchers
working on the Health Survey for England set out to confirm whether people
were as fit as they claimed.
A survey of 15,000 adults found that nearly 40 per cent of men and 30 per cent of women claimed to achieve minimum levels of fitness. This is 30 minutes of activity, five days a week.
Researchers went on to conduct fitness tests on 3,300 of these people - and found that just five per cent demonstrated minimum levels of physical fitness.
The figures were released yesterday by the NHS Information Centre.
Centre chief executive Tim Straughan said: "What's clear is that there is a stark mismatch between how much adults say they are doing and what they are doing in reality.
"However, activity levels are lower than recommended for the vast majority of us, including children. This is a worrying finding and health professionals need to find ways of addressing this to reduce the levels of obesity and weight-related ill health."
The British Heart Foundation said too many people were "fooling themselves" about their fitness levels.
Betty McBride, of the BHF, called for improvements to the environment, including safe cycle routes, 20 mph speed limits and more green spaces.
She said: "We all need to stop kidding ourselves and face up to how our inactive lifestyles are putting our heart health at risk.
"Physical activity needs to be a daily part of everyone's life, like brushing your teeth. Taking a regular brisk walk can halve you risk of developing coronary heart disease."
Tags: Fitness | Heart Health | UK News
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