WHO guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour

This is the World Health Organization's 2020 global guideline on how much physical activity people aged 5 and older need for good health, and on how time spent sitting or lying down relates to health. It took the place of WHO's 2010 recommendations. Its main readers are policy makers and government planners; nurses, doctors and allied health and exercise professionals are also named, as people whose advice it can shape when no national guidance exists.

A guideline development group worked under WHO's guideline handbook, building on the evidence reviews behind the 2018 US Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee report, adding newer reviews, and rating certainty with GRADE. There are separate recommendations for children and adolescents, adults, older adults, women during and after pregnancy, adults with chronic conditions (cancer survivors and people with hypertension, type 2 diabetes or HIV), and children and adults living with disability. Compared with the 2010 recommendations, sedentary behavior and these subgroups are covered for the first time.

Most recommendations are rated strong, and most rest on moderate-certainty evidence. They set amounts of moderate and vigorous aerobic activity for each group, call for regular muscle strengthening, add varied multicomponent activity focused on balance and strength for older adults, and ask every group to cut sedentary time and swap it for activity of any intensity, including light activity. Its good practice statements add that any activity beats none and that people who are inactive should start small and build up over time.