Number of inactive adults in England rises by 1.3m since Covid
This story goes nicely with “And Finally…”. It leads me to reflect that England with its relatively limited access to open countryside is not in its areas a green gym. Indeed in many urban places there are better facilities and opportunities to get active than in rural settings.
About 1.3 million adults have become inactive since the height of Covid, with at least 12 million taking less than an average of 30 minutes’ exercise a week, as activity levels only just begin to recover towards pre-pandemic rates.
The Active Lives Adult Survey, which is the largest study of the matter in England and has 175,000 respondents, tracked adults’ activity for a year from November 2020, with the data taking into account the impact lockdowns had on activity levels.
Just over 60% of adults (28 million) were active, achieving more than 150 minutes of activity a week, while 27%, or 12.4 million adults, were inactive, with less than 30 minutes of activity a week. A further 11.5%, or 5.2 million adults, were fairly active but did not reach an average of 150 minutes a week.
The data also showed that while activity levels dropped during periods of lockdown restriction, since coronavirus became less prevalent and restrictions were eased activity levels had begun to stabilise and were now recovering. In mid-March 2021, 61% of the population were active, compared with 58% 12 months earlier.