Physical activity
Physical activity can help people live longer, healthier lives. The New Zealand Physical Activity Guidelines outline the minimum levels of physical activity required to gain health benefits and ways to incorporate incidental physical activity into everyday life.
Adults
New Zealand adults should:
- view movement as an opportunity, not an inconvenience.
- be active every day in as many ways as possible.
- put together at least 30 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity on most if not all days of the week.
- if possible, add some vigorous exercise for extra health benefit and fitness.
Adult guidelines for physical activity were developed by the Hillary Commission (now Sport New Zealand) in consultation with the Ministry of Health in 2001.
Movement = Health is aimed at health professionals and includes ways to promote the guidelines.
Children and young people (5–18 years)
Children and young people should:
- throughout each day, do sixty minutes or more of moderate to vigorous physical activity
- be active in as many ways as possible, for example, through play, cultural activities, dance, sport, recreation, jobs and going from place to place
- be active with friends and whānau, at home, school and in their communities
- spend less than two hours a day (out of school hours) in front of the television, computers, and game consoles.
New Zealand physical activity guidelines for children and young people (aged 5–18 years) were developed by Sport New Zealand and the Ministries of Health and Education in 2007.
Children under 5 years
There are no specific guidelines for children under 5 years old but movement is important from birth. Active movement is encouraged for healthy development – children learn from movement and physical activity. For more information see Activities for young people in the YourHealth section.
In this section
- Data and statistics on activity levels for New Zealand adults and children. Read more
- A Green Prescription (GRx) is a health professional’s written advice to a patient to be physically active, as part of the patient’s health management. This section describes how GRx works and provides research and other useful resources. Read more
Page last updated: 27 July 2010
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