City of York Council has welcomed figures showing that York has the highest percentage of adults in the country doing more than 2½ hours of physical activity each week.
Figures released by Public Health England* show that in 2015 69.8 percent of adults in York do over 150 minutes physical activity each week. The statistics are much higher than the national average which currently stands at 57 percent.
In 2013 the York Council surveyed residents about health and fitness. At that time 44% said that they undertook 30 minutes of exercise each day. An increase, in 3 years, to over 80% would be astonishing. The Council did not include the question in the last “Talkabout” panel questionnaire, the results of which were published in June
The statistics also highlighted that York had the lowest percentage of people achieving less than 30 minutes of physical activity with 17.5 percent of adults being the lowest in the country. This is much lower than the national average which stands at 28.7 percent.
The figures also showed that York had the highest percentage of adults in the country who cycle at least once a month at 34.2 percent.
The news comes after the hugely successful Sky Ride York which saw over 10,500 riders take part in a traffic free ride through York’s historic city centre.
Councillor Nigel Ayre, Executive Member for Leisure and Culture said:
“It is encouraging to hear that York is outperforming the country and that a large proportion of York’s adults are exercising for more than 150 minutes a week. These results are testament to the work done by the council’s sport and active leisure team with partners across the city to help more people in York be active.
“Physical activity can have so many benefits for your health and can also be great fun, as seen with the recent Sky Ride event which was hugely popular. Hopefully such events and these figures will inspire more people to take up sport or join groups so even more people in the city are active for longer.”
People who have a physically active lifestyle have a 20-35 percent lower risk of cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease and stroke compared to those who have a less active lifestyle.
Regular physical activity is also associated with a reduced risk of diabetes, obesity, osteoporosis and colon/breast cancer and with improved mental health.