Exercise (5-18 years of age)

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

Children and young people need to do 2 types of physical activity each week:

Aerobic exercises.

Exercises to strengthen muscles and bones

Children and young people aged 5 to 18 should:

Perform average of 60 minutes of moderate intensity exercise a day, across the week.

Take part in variety of physical activity to develop movement skills, muscles and bones.

Reduce the time spent sitting or lying around, stay active.

What counts as moderate exercise?

Moderate intensity activities will raise your heart rate, and make you breathe faster and feel warmer.

One way to tell if you're working at a moderate intensity level is if you can still talk, but not sing.

Examples of moderate intensity activities are:

Walking to school.

Playground activities.

Riding a scooter.

Skateboarding

Rollerblading

Walking the dog.

Cycling on level ground

What activities will help strengthen muscles and bones?

Examples of exercise which strengthen muscles and bones are:

Walking

Running

Games like tug-of-war

Jump rope

Swinging on Monkey bars

Gymnastics

climbing

Sit ups, push-ups

Basketball, football, tennis, hockey

Dancing

Martial arts

Rockclimbing

Please contact your healthcare provider before starting exercise routine. Children should be monitored by adults while performing exercises/physical activity.