The Government has published new physical activity guidelines this week informing the great British public what they should be aiming for each day, including under fives, who for the first time find their activity levels in the spotlight.
My experience from researching health and well-being issues within communities is that people don’t know what the recommendations are or even what constitutes ‘physical activity’ – let alone how to achieve these when time and money is often limited. The DH recommends minimum levels of activity by age group with adults expected to fit in a two and a half hours each week of ‘moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity’ – I am sure if stopped in the street, few people could accurately define this, and even worse could be put off doing any physical activity by the sheer fear of such exertion.
As a parent I am am relieved to see the clarification on waiting until your child is able to walk before implementing the guidelines, as I was worried how I will get my nine-month-old to do three hours of activity a day – although I am sure she tops three hours of wrestling at nappy time! But joking aside, many will struggle to see how they can change their behaviour to increase their physical activity in a meaningful way, but with the right nudges, public policies and appropriately targeted and co-created interventions it doesn’t need to be so. Physical activity behaviour change programmes have been a staple in the social marketing toolbox in recent years, with the popularity of Change4Life and a range of local projects – such as ICE Creates/NHS Coventry’s Big Pledge social marketing campaign which have firmly built up an evidence base for such interventions.
(Thanks for reading my first Behaviourchangereview blog!)
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