What types of activity count towards my 60-90 minutes per day?

Every bit counts. The important thing is to get up more and move about during the day. Most of your activity should be moderate in intensity. This means that you are using your heart, lungs and larger muscles over a period of time. Your breathing will deepen and your heart will pump slightly faster.

See examples below. Activity that results in the following is called vigorous activity

• Big increase in heart rate
• Breathing becomes much faster and deeper
• Leaving you feeling out of breath and sweaty

Examples of moderate and vigorous activity for adults

Moderate Activity	Vigorous Activity
Brisk walking; a mile in 15–20 minutes	Jogging or running a mile in 10 minutes or faster
Digging in the garden	Active sports such as football or soccer, squash, aerobics
Medium paced swimming	Circuit training
Water aerobics	Fast cycling (10 miles per hour or faster) or brisk rowing
Cycling slower than 10 miles per hour	Swimming lengths
Tennis (doubles)	Tennis (singles)
Ballroom dancing	Dancing such as quick step, hip hop, street, salsa, Irish dancing
General gardening	Skipping
	Heavy gardening (continuous digging or hoeing, heart rate increases)
	Hill-walking with a backpack

Have you been inactive for a while?

• Speak to a GP beforehand if you have concerns
• Choose an activity you will enjoy. Dancing, cycling, walking, football kick-around; whatever you like
• Start very slowly and build your level of activity up gradually
• Make a habit of it. Do the same activity at a moderate intensity for a set amount of minutes most days of the week
• When you get used to this, increase the time you spend doing the activity
• Then increase the intensity at which you do it
• Try out different activities for variety. Talk to your friends and family about activities in your local area. They might have some nice ideas (and might even join you)