Sport England data shows Borough inactivity reduced
Ongoing work to reduce levels of physical inactivity in Eastleigh Borough by the Council’s SportWorks and HealthWorks teams has been paying dividends: the latest Sport England report shows that inactivity went down in the Borough by an encouraging 2.8%.
The latest bi-annual Sport England Active Lifestyles report for May 2019 to May 2020 shows that the Borough has reduced those in the ‘Inactive’ range and increased the percentage of those in the ‘Active’ range. Percentages in both ranges are better than national and county averages.
There are three levels of activity defined by Sport England, based upon the Chief Medical Officer's guidelines for adults recommended 150 minutes or more of moderate intensity exercise a week. Moderate intensity exercise is an activity that raises your breathing rate and vigorous intensity exercise is when an activity gets you out of breath/makes you sweat. Vigorous exercise counts as double the value of minutes of moderate exercise and exercise must be in bouts of at least 10 minutes to count.
The ranges, based on a participant’s last seven days are as follows: Inactive, less than 30 minutes of exercise a week. Fairly Active, 30 -149 minutes of exercise a week. Active, over 150 minutes exercise a week.
The latest report shows a 3.6% shift from the Inactive and Fairly Active to the Active range. The Council sees this encouraging annual report results as a combined effort between the local sport and activity providers, our SportsWorks and HealthWorks teams and the Borough residents to strive to improve local health and wellbeing.
The report covers the early stages of the national lockdown, up until the middle of May. Activity levels dropped by 7.1% nationally during this period. There is a combined effort to ensure recreation and support services are reopened and kept open where safety and guidelines allow. Council teams have ensured the Health and Wellbeing at Home web area is kept up to date during the pandemic. It provides residents and their families with access to quality resources and support for mental and physical wellbeing across all ages, themes and needs.
SportWorks are poised to restart Friday Night Football in Botley, Eastleigh and Hamble for 10-19-year olds. HealthWorks are soon to restart the referral scheme remotely and provided 17 Health Walks per week, before national restrictions, which will be reinstated when possible. They have begun to plan a hub of resources for their low-intensity classes for people at risk of falling, or with neurological or other health conditions.
The Council’s Cabinet Member for Health, Councillor Tonia Craig, said: “We are committed to supporting the health and wellbeing of residents in the Borough – and promoting physical fitness is a big part of this. Our Council programmes have been working to reduce inactivity for many years and the progress reflects their efforts and those of our partners, local providers and the residents themselves. I hope that the pandemic provides a continued consensus over the priority of wellbeing and a springboard to further improved levels in the future.”