Public Health England (PHE) and the Royal College of GPs are encouraging adults to focus on walking briskly, rather than just counting steps, to improve their health.
In England, one in five middle aged adults are physically inactive, meaning they do less than 30 minutes of physical activity per week. Many adults struggle to exercise regularly, with not enough time (31 per cent) cited as the main reason, followed by not feeling motivated (27 per cent) and being too tired (25 per cent).
Just 10 minutes of brisk walking a day counts as exercise and can help protect and improve an individual’s health, by lowering risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and some cancers. Physical inactivity contributes to one in six adult deaths in the UK, and costs the NHS over £0.5 billion per year.