ADULTS

The importance of regular physical activity to the health and wellbeing of adults is well established and include reductions in risk of cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes, certain forms of cancer, depression and some injuries. In addition, physical activity is an important element for achieving and maintaining a health body mass which is of particular focus given the increasing rates of overweight and obesity and role of this risk factor in chronic disease.

Data source To measure physical activity, the Australian Health Survey collected data on walking for transport, walking for fitness and moderate and vigorous physical activity for fitness, recreation or sport undertaken in the week prior to interview. For sedentary behaviour, data was collected on sitting at work, sitting for transport and sitting or lying down for other social or leisure activities.

In 2011-12, adults spent an average of 33 minutes per day doing physical activity, yet the distribution was highly skewed with 60% of adults doing less than 30 minutes, and fewer than 20% doing an hour or more per day on average. In contrast, sedentary leisure occupied just over 4 hours a day on average, with almost 30% of the adult population reporting more than 5 hours of sedentary leisure activity each day.

This section contains the following subsection :

Physical Activity

Sedentary Behaviour

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