PHYSICAL EXERCISE

Young people aged 12–17 years were asked how often in the last 7 days had they exercised or played sport or games enough to make them sweat or breathe hard. This definition of strenuous exercise has been used in this website.

More than one quarter of young people (28%) had not done strenuous exercise in the week prior to the survey. One in five males (20%) and more than one in three females (36%) had not done strenuous exercise in the previous week.

Half (49%) the 17 year-old females and a much lower 8% of 17 year-old males reported not having done any strenuous exercise in the previous week.

Young people no longer attending school were half as likely to have done strenuous exercise in the past 7 days as young people still attending school.

Young people who have smoked cigarettes regularly were less likely to have done strenuous exercise in the past 7 days.

A higher proportion of young males participated in organised sport in the previous 12 months (70%) compared with young females (56%).

Some 51% of young people had both done strenuous exercise in the past 7 days and participated in organised sport in the last 12 months, while 14% had done neither.

PROPORTION OF YOUNG PEOPLE WHO DID NOT DO STRENUOUS EXERCISE IN THE WEEK PRIOR TO THE SURVEY, BY AGE AND SEX