healthscotland.com

Indicators for health education in Scotland; summary of findings from the 1996 Health Education Population Survey (HEPS)

Physical activity

Physical activity helps protect against CHD and a number of other diseases,and is considered beneficial in terms of mental health. Recent new guidelineson the health benefits of moderate intensity physical activity (‘activeliving’) issued by the American College of Sports Medicine/Centre forDisease Control (Pate et al, 1995) have prompted a revision of healtheducation strategies in this topic area. These are outlined in The Promotionof Physical Activity in Scotland: A Strategic Statement (HEBS, 1997). Thisdocument recommends a two-stage approach: those who are not regularly activeare encouraged to spend at least 30 minutes doing moderate intensity physicalactivity most days of the week; those who are regularly active are encouragedto increase the frequency, duration and intensity of their exercise.

Respondents were asked how often they thought someone needed to exercise tostay physically fit. The current minimum recommended level of exercise forphysical fitness is three sessions of 20 minutes vigorous intensity exerciseper week and 35% of respondents correctly identified this. Respondents werealso asked how much time per day somebody should spend on moderate physicalactivity in order to stay healthy. Thirty percent of respondents correctlyidentified the minimum recommended daily amount as 30 minutes. For bothquestions, relatively large proportions of people thought the recommendedlevels were higher (43% and 47% respectively).

Under a third of respondents (29% and 21% respectively) stated they want tobecome more active or intend to do so in the next six months.

Figure 8 shows the motivational barriers to being more physically activementioned by respondents.

Figure 8: Motivational barriers to being more physically active

Among those who had, or intended to, become more active, most (59%) mentioned doing more exercise, sports or other physical activities outside the home, while somewhat fewer cited walking more as part of their daily routine (46%). Smaller proportions mentioned doing more exercise at home (30%) and cycling more as part of their daily routine (10%).

Only 7% of respondents reported that a lack of skills or confidence was an important barrier to becoming more physically active. However, 23% said they would like more information about how to become more active.

Respondents were asked a series of questions on the types of physical activity they did during an average week. Each activity was classified according to its intensity, frequency and duration and used to derive a summary activity level. This was classified as irregular if respondents did at least one 30 minute session of moderate activity or 20 minute session of vigorous activity per week, but did not reach the recommended levels of exercise described above. The proportions of respondents at each physical activity level are shown in Figure 9.

Figure 9: Proportion of respondents at each activity level

Sixty three percent of respondents reported spending 30 minutes or more walking during an average day.

Thirty seven percent of respondents said they had increased their exercise levels over the past year.

In order to ascertain the extent to which respondents were engaged in active living as part of their day to day activities, they were asked how often in the past year they had chosen to walk or cycle a short journey instead of using mechanical transport, or chosen to use the stairs instead of taking the lift or escalator. The percentages of people saying they always or sometimes did so were 82% and 80% respectively.