Introduction

Taking part in any physical activity has physical and mental health benefits. Try to build physical activity into your daily routine. It’s really important to choose an activity you enjoy, whether you’ve always been active or are just getting started.

Walking, cycling, swimming, bowling, dancing, and light weight-training are good choices.

Whatever the activity, each week you need to be doing at least two hours of activity that makes you feel warmer and breathe slightly faster. This can be broken down into daily amounts of 30 minutes or smaller amounts of 10 minutes.

Some people will prefer more vigorous activity, such as formal exercise or sport, and we recommend 75 minutes of this each week.

To prevent falls you need to build up muscle strength and keep your bones strong. You need specific activities like jogging or walking, where the bones are being made to work by taking your body weight, and makes the muscles in your arms and legs work harder.

You can find out more about walking for health and fitness on the Somerset Council website.

A structured class or exercise regime, such as vigorous gardening or carrying shopping bags. may help, but you could improvise with small weights or objects.

If you have particular health needs, talk to your doctor before beginning an exercise programme.

Find out more about physical activity for older adults, including guidelines about what activities you can do.