World Health Organization 2020 guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour

In 2018, the World Health Assembly (WHA) approved a new Global Action Plan on Physical Activity (GAPPA) 2018–2030 and adopted a new voluntary global target to reduce global levels of physical inactivity in adults and adolescents by 15% by 2030. As part of the WHA Resolution (WHA71.6), Member States requested that WHO update the 2010 Global Recommendations on Physical Activity for Health.

Global and national guidelines on physical activity are a central component of a comprehensive and coherent governance and policy framework for public health action. WHO recommends all countries establish national guidelines and set physical activity targets. To help support populations to achieve the targets and maintain healthy levels of physical activity, all countries are advised to develop and implement appropriate national and subnational policies and programmes to enable people of all ages and abilities to be physically active and improve health.

Given that the most recent global estimates show that one in four (27.5%) adults and more than three-quarters (81%) of adolescents do not meet the recommendations for aerobic exercise, as outlined in the 2010 Global Recommendations on Physical Activity for Health, there is an urgent need to increase priority and investment directed towards services to promote physical activity both within health and other key sectors. These data also reveal no overall improvement in global levels of participation over the last two decades and substantial gender differences.3 4 Furthermore, national data consistently show inequalities in participation by age, gender, disability, pregnancy, socioeconomic status and geography, amplifying the need to intensify investment in physical activity.

This paper reports on the development of new WHO guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour. These guidelines provide evidence-based public health recommendations concerning the amount (frequency, intensity, duration) and types of physical activity that offer significant health benefits and mitigate health risks (for definitions see table 1). These guidelines have been developed for children, adolescents, adults, older adults and, for the first time, include specific recommendations on physical activity for pregnant and postpartum women and people living with chronic conditions or disability. In addition, for the first time, these WHO guidelines address the health impact of sedentary behaviour. The new WHO guidelines update previous WHO recommendations on physical activity for health released in 2010 with the most recent advances in the evidence base for these behaviours and associated selected health consequences. These new guidelines, together with the Guidelines on Physical Activity, Sedentary Behaviour and Sleep for Children Under 5 Years of Age, provide evidence-updated recommendations for physical activity and sedentary behaviour across the life course.

The primary audiences and users of these guidelines are policy makers in ministries of health, education, sport, transport, environment, social or family welfare and related sectors, working in high-income as well as low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), who formulate country-specific guidelines and who develop national or subnational plans and programmes to increase physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviours across the life course. Additional key users of these guidelines include researchers and those working in health services providing advice and guidance (such as community health workers, primary, secondary or tertiary nurses or doctors), allied health and exercise professionals and non-governmental organisations. Communication of these guidelines to members of the public is essential and requires tailoring of the core messages to appropriate and accessible language and formats relevant to cultural contexts in order to be effective.