Physical activity guidelines for children and young people

How much physical activity should children and young people aged 5 to 18 do to keep healthy?

Children and young people need to do two types of physical activity each week:

Children and young people aged 5 to 18 should:

aim for an average of at least 60 minutes of moderate or vigorous intensity physical activity a day across the week
take part in a variety of types and intensities of physical activity across the week to develop movement skills, muscles and bones
reduce the time spent sitting or lying down and break up long periods of not moving with some activity. Aim to spread activity throughout the day.

Children and young people aged 5 to 18 who are living with a disability should:

aim to do 20 minutes of physical activity a day, splitting this into smaller chunks of activity throughout the day if needed
do challenging but manageable strength and balance activities 3 times a week.