Physical Activity

The National Physical Activity Guidelines for Australians outline the minimum levels of physical activity required to gain a health benefit and ways to incorporate incidental physical activity into everyday life.

Welcome to the Physical Activity web page. This part of the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing website provides interesting and useful information on physical activity and health associated issues.

About us

The Healthy Living Section of the Population Health Division in the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing is responsible for the promotion of health-enhancing physical activity to improve the health and well-being of the Australian population.

The benefits of regular moderate-intensity, physical activity for health emerged as an important issue around 1996 as a result of the release of a number of key documents such as The US Surgeon General's report on Physical Activity and Health and the NHMRC report, Acting on Australia's weight: a strategic plan for the prevention of overweight and obesity. The documents provided evidence that physical activity can improve health and well-being, reduce the risk of some chronic diseases and help to maintain a healthy weight.

To date the Department has commissioned a number of research reports, projects and surveys to better understand physical activity participation in the population, in addition to implementing intervention projects to improve health through regular physical activity.