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Physical activity guidelines for older adults
How much physical activity do older adults aged 65 and over need to do to keep healthy?
To stay healthy or to improve health, older adults need to do 2 types of physical activity each week: aerobic exercise and strength exercises.
The amount of physical activity you need to do each week depends on your age.
Click on links below for the recommendations for other age groups:
Guidelines for older adults aged 65 and over
Adults aged 65 or older who are generally fit and have no health conditions that limit their mobility should try to be active daily.
You should do:
Or
Or
A general rule of thumb is that 1 minute of vigorous activity provides the same health benefits as 2 minutes of moderate activity.
You should also try to break up long periods of sitting with light activity, as sedentary behaviour is now considered an independent risk factor for ill health, no matter how much exercise you do.
Find out why sitting is bad for your health
Older adults at risk of falls, such as people with weak legs, poor balance and some medical conditions, should do exercises to improve balance and co-ordination on at least 2 days a week.
Examples include yoga, tai chi and dancing.
What counts as moderate aerobic activity?
Examples of activities that require moderate effort for most people include:
Try the aerobic video workouts in the NHS Fitness Studio.
Moderate activity will raise your heart rate and make you breathe faster and feel warmer.
One way to tell if you're exercising at a moderate level is if you can still talk but can't sing the words to a song.
Daily chores such as shopping, cooking or housework don't count towards your 150 minutes because the effort isn't enough to raise your heart rate.
But this type of activity is still important, as it breaks up periods of sitting.
What counts as vigorous aerobic activity?
There's good evidence that vigorous activity can bring health benefits over and above that of moderate activity.
Examples of activities that require vigorous effort for most people include:
Try the aerobic workout videos in the NHS Fitness Studio.
Vigorous activity makes you breathe hard and fast. If you're working at this level, you won't be able to say more than a few words without pausing for breath.
In general, 75 minutes of vigorous activity can give similar health benefits to 150 minutes of moderate activity.
What activities strengthen muscles?
Muscle strength is necessary for:
Muscle-strengthening exercises are counted in repetitions and sets. A repetition is 1 complete movement of an activity, such as a biceps curl or a sit-up. A set is a group of repetitions.
For each strength exercise, try to do:
To gain health benefits from strength exercises, you should do them to the point where you find it hard to complete another repetition.
There are many ways you can strengthen your muscles, whether at home or in the gym.
Examples of muscle-strengthening activities include:
Try the strength workout videos in the NHS Fitness Studio.
Try Strength and Flex, a 5-week exercise plan for beginners, to improve your strength and flexibility.
You can do activities that strengthen your muscles on the same or different days as your aerobic activity – whatever's best for you.
Muscle-strengthening exercises aren't an aerobic activity, so you'll need to do them in addition to your 150 minutes of aerobic activity.
Some vigorous activities count as both an aerobic activity and a muscle-strengthening activity.
Examples include:
Download a factsheet on physical activity guidelines for older adults (65+ years) (PDF, 462kb)
For a summary on the health benefits of being more active, check out this Department of Health infographic (PDF, 500kb).