Status and contents of physical activity recommendations in European Union countries: a systematic comparative analysis

Abstract

ObjectivesWe analysed the information on current national physical activity recommendations in all EU Member States provided by governments in a joint EU/WHO survey on the implementation status of the EU Council Recommendation on Health-Enhancing Physical Activity across Sectors.DesignCross-sectional survey.ParticipantsThe representatives of the 28 EU Member State governments to the EU Physical Activity Focal Point Network.Outcome measuresNational recommendations on: (A) minimum frequency, duration, intensity and lengths of bouts of physical activity, (B) preventing inactivity or sedentary behaviour and (C) further recommendations for additional health benefits, obesity prevention and specific types of activity.ResultsAn official document could be located for 23 of the 28 EU Member States, while four are currently developing recommendations. For children and adolescents, most countries follow the 2010 WHO Global Recommendations for Physical Activity, but there are notable differences in the delimitation of age groups. 14 countries also followed WHO in their recommendations for adults, and 11 countries have additional advice on avoiding inactivity and sitting among adults. 18 Member States have recommendations for older adults, 12 of which follow WHO. Thirteen countries also address at least one special population (eg, pregnant women, people with disabilities and people with chronic diseases), but the level of detail varies substantially between countries.ConclusionsThe large majority of EU Member States either has physical activity recommendations in place or is in the process of developing them. There is a general tendency to use the WHO Global Recommendations as a basis, with the greatest variation observable for children and adolescents. Comparing results with a previous round of data collection shows that the number of EU countries with physical activity recommendations is increasing and that both special groups and sedentary behaviour have become more important in recent years.

Musculoskeletal Pain and Non-Classroom Teaching in Times of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Analysis of the Impact on Students from Two Spanish Universities

“…It was identified that the frequency of PA in women increased and, in fact, this could be one of the causes of the decrease in areas of pain during the lockdown, due to the possible effects of carrying out PA on the musculoskeletal systems and the central processing mechanisms of the pain [ 10 , 11 , 12 ]. In this way, it is probable that the group of women who increased their frequency of carrying out PA during lockdown reached the minimum guidelines of PA recommended for the maintenance of good health [ 40 , 41 ].…”

Sociodemographic Determinants of Physical Inactivity of People Aged 60 Years and Older: A Cross-Sectional Study in Poland

“…It is necessary to address them with educational programmes that increase their awareness concerning the prohealth role of PA. In this scope, it is essential to prepare detailed recommendations about the duration of PA, its form, and intensity (in Poland, national norms for high-risk groups have not so far been developed) [ 47 ]. The process of developing such norms can be a starting point for including the issue of the PA of seniors in the national agenda.…”

No changes in adolescent's sedentary behaviour across Europe between 2002 and 2017

“…To the best of the authors' knowledge, only seven of the 28 EU countries (Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Spain and The UK) included some kind of reference for sedentariness for children and youth in their national guidelines before publication of the latest Eurobarometer report (2017) [22][23][24][42][43][44][45][46]. This is in contrast to the EU Working Group "Sport and Health" recommendations in 2008 to reduce SB in school-age children [21].…”

“…Since 2017, more European countries have developed or updated national guidelines related to SB in adolescents (Greece, Dutch, Latvia or the UK [47][48][49][50]). Nonetheless, other than recommendations like exist in France ("children between 6-17 years old should not accumulate sitting bouts for > 2-h long") [43], most other existing guidelines only mention SB under a qualitative perspective [42,[44][45][46][47][48], with quantitative recommendations mainly focused on screen-related activities.…”