About the guidelines
Staying active regularly is essential for good physical and mental health and wellbeing. This is true no matter how young or old you are. But the amount of activity varies, depending on your age.
To help Australians understand how much activity they need, we have developed:
- 24-hour movement guidelines for each age group, and
- physical activity and sedentary behaviour guidelines for pregnancy.
These guidelines outline:
- how much physical activity you should do each day
- ideas to fit more physical activity into your daily lives
- the importance of reducing and breaking up the time you spend sitting or lying down when not sleeping
- how much sedentary screen time is recommended
- how much sleep people should get
- how people can get good quality sleep.
24-hour movement guidelines by age
Find the guidelines that apply to you.
- For infants, toddler and preschoolers (birth to 5 years)
Read about how much activity small children should do each day, ways to limit sitting and screen time, and making sure they get enough sleep. - For children and young people (5 to 17 years)
Read about how much activity children and young people should do each day, ways to limit sitting and screen time, and to get enough sleep. - For adults (18 to 64 years)
Read about how much activity adults should do each day, ways to limit sitting time, and to get enough sleep. - For pregnancy
Read about how much activity should be done each day, ways to limit sitting time during pregnancy for the health and wellbeing of both mum and bub. - For older adults (65 years and over)
Read about how much activity older Australians should do each day, ways to limit sitting time, and to get enough sleep. - For people with disability and chronic conditions
Read about how much activity adults with chronic conditions should do each day, ways to limit sedentary time, and to get enough sleep.
Order the guidelines
You can order the following printed resources by emailing health@nationalmailing.com.au or calling 02 6269 1080. Provide:
- the order ID number
- how many copies you need
- your delivery address.
| Title | Order ID number |
| 24-hour movement guidelines – birth to 5 years – brochure | NA0116 |
| 24-hour movement guidelines – children and young people (5 to 17 years) – brochure | NA0117 |
| Physical activity and sedentary behaviour guidelines – pregnancy – poster | NA0118 |
| Physical activity and sedentary behaviour guidelines – pregnancy – brochure | NA0119 |
Summary by age
Children and young people
|
Recommendations |
Under 12 months |
1 to 2 years |
3 to 5 years |
5 to 17 years |
|
Physical activity |
Interactive floor-based play, and at least 30 minutes of tummy time for babies per day.
|
At least 3 hours of energetic play per day. |
At least 3 hours per day, with 1 hour being energetic play. |
At least 1 hour of moderate to vigorous activity involving mainly aerobic activities per day. Vigorous activities should be incorporated at least 3 days per week. Several hours of light activities per day. |
|
Strength |
|
|
|
At least 3 days a week. |
|
Sedentary time |
Do not restrain for more than 1 hour at a time. |
Do not restrain for more than 1 hour at a time. |
Do not restrain for more than 1 hour at a time. |
Minimise and break up long periods of sitting. |
|
Sedentary recreational screen time |
None. |
Under 2 years: None. 2 years: No more than 1 hour per day. |
No more than 1 hour per day. |
No more than 2 hours per day. |
|
Sleep |
0 to 3 months: 4 to 11 months: This includes naps. |
11 to 14 hours, including naps. |
10 to 13 hours. Some will still need naps. |
5 to 13 years: 14 to 17 years: |
Adults
| Recommendation | Adults | Older Australians | People with disability | People with chronic conditions |
| Physical activity | Moderate to vigorous intensity physical activities for 30 minutes or more on most days. Muscle-strengthening activities on 2 or more days per week. Functional activities targeting mobility, balance, and coordination on 3 or more days per week. Several hours of light-intensity physical activity daily. | Moderate to vigorous intensity physical activities for 30 minutes or more on most days. Muscle-strengthening activities on 2 or more days per week. Functional activities targeting mobility, balance, and coordination on 3 or more days per week. Several hours of light-intensity physical activity daily. | ||
| Sedentary behaviour | Limit the amount of time spent being sedentary. Break up prolonged periods of sedentary behaviour as often as possible. | |||
| Sleep | 7-9 hours of good quality sleep for adults (7-8 hours for older adults), with consistent bed and wake up times. | Get sufficient, good quality sleep, with consistent bed and wake-up times. | ||
Pregnancy
| Physical activity | Be active on most (preferably all) days, to weekly total of:
Do pelvic floor exercises. |
| Strength | At least 2 days a week. |
| Sedentary time | Minimise and break up long periods of sitting. |
How we developed the guidelines
We developed Australia’s 24-hour movement guidelines based on:
- a rigorous review of scientific evidence from around the world
- extensive consultation with stakeholders, state and territory governments, and national and international experts.
We looked at how health is directly affected by:
- the physical activity people do – including the amount, frequency, intensity and type of activity
- the amount of time people spend sitting or lying down
- the amount and quality of sleep people get.
We have summarised the scientific evidence that support each of the guidelines.