Irish men do more exercise than women, study finds

Irish women lead substantially less active lives than men and a significant percentage of both genders are at risk of serious disease through a lack of exercise, a major study from the World Health Organisation (WHO) has shown.

The report suggests that almost 1.5 billion adults around the world are not getting enough exercise with more than a quarter of the global population insufficiently active. As a result, they faced an increased risk of heart and artery disease, Type 2 diabetes, dementia, and some cancers.

The research conducted by the World Health Organisation suggests that 32.7 per cent of Irish adults do not get enough exercise. It points to a significant gender divide and says that 28.3 per cent of men are overly inactive rising to 37.1 per cent amongst women.

It says there has been little progress in improving physical activity levels between 2001 and 2016 and if current trends continue, the global target of reducing sedentary lifestyle by 10 per cent by 2025 will not be met.

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The lead researcher Dr Regina Guthold, from the WHO in Switzerland said that unlike "other major global health risks, levels of insufficient physical activity are not falling worldwide, on average, and over a quarter of all adults are not reaching the recommended levels of physical activity for good health."

The study was based on self-reported activity levels both at work and at home and during travel and leisure time and researchers analysed information from 1.9 million men and women who had participated in 358 population surveys.

It found that in 2016, around one in three women (32 per cent) and 23 per cent of men worldwide were not attaining recommended healthy levels of physical activity - at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity, or 75 minutes of vigorous physical activity per week.

High-income Western countries displayed the greatest increase in the proportion of people taking insufficient exercise over the study period, a rise from 31 per cent in 2001 to 37 per cent in 2016.

In the UK, 40 per cent of women and 32 per cent of men were insufficiently active in 2016.

Countries with the worst physical activity record included Kuwait, American Samoa, a US territory in the South Pacific, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. In each of these countries, more than half the adult population was insufficiently active.