Draft 24-hour movement recommendations for adults and older Australians

Overview

To help Australians understand how much to sit, move, and sleep across the day, the Australian Government is updating and modernising:

• Australia’s Physical Activity and Sedentary Guidelines for Adults (18-64 years)
• Australia’s Physical Activity and Sedentary Guidelines for Older People (65 years and above).

The modernised guidelines will incorporate a 24-hour approach to activity and will recognise the importance of sleep. The updated 24-hour movement guidelines will apply to adults (18-64 years), older Australians (65 years and over) and people living with disability or chronic conditions.

The goal of these guidelines is to provide evidence-based recommendations for policy makers, health organisations, health professionals, researchers, and the general public on the amounts of physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and sleep to achieve optimal health and reduce risks. This is in line with the National Preventive Health Strategy 2021-2030 which has a focus on increasing physical activity. It recognises that being physically active and achieving adequate sleep are essential components of preventing poor physical health and for establishing and maintaining strong mental health and wellbeing.

BACKGROUND: Physical activity and sedentary behaviour guidelines and 24-hour movement guidelines are currently available for all life-stages to provide guidance on what duration and intensity of physical activity and what sedentary behaviour is appropriate for each age group to benefit their overall health and wellbeing.

The review and modernisation of the guidelines for adults (18-64 years) and older Australians (65 years and over) incorporates the latest evidence in a 24-hour movement approach (physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep). This presents an opportunity to align guidelines for adult and older Australians with the current 24-hour movement guidelines for early years (0-5 years) and children 5-12 and young people 13-17.

GUIDELINE DEVELOPMENT:  The department has commissioned the University of Wollongong to under take the review and modernisation of the guidelines.

As part of this project a set of draft recommendations have been developed. These recommendations have been informed by a rigorous systemic-review of the latest evidence, including consideration and adaptation of recent international guidelines from the World Health Organization (WHO).

The draft recommendations have been developed under the direction of:

• A leadership group, consisting of researchers and subject matter experts in physical activity, sedentary behaviour (including screen time), sleep, aged care, disability, chronic conditions and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health.
• A consensus panel of key stakeholder representatives from, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health organisations, culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities, state and territory health promotion organisations and government, allied health and sport, as well as subject matter experts in physical activity, sedentary behaviour (including screen time), sleep, aged care, disability, chronic conditions.

The draft recommendations identify the certainty of the evidence used as an indication of the quality of the evidence that underpins the recommendations. While recommendations outlined in the draft guidelines are considered strong, there is a variety of certainty of evidence ranging from very low certainty to moderate certainty. This approach is consistent with other physical activity and sedentary behaviour guidelines such as those developed by the WHO.

Why your views matter

The purpose of this consultation is to seek stakeholder and community feedback at a crucial developmental stage in the modernisation of the 24-hour movement guidelines. The target audience of this consultation is health and physical activity professionals. However the diverse perspectives, experiences and knowledge of all stakeholders, consumers, and community organisations are valued and respected and will contribute to the final 24-hour movement guidelines for adults and older Australians.

The final 24-movement guidelines will inform future consumer facing public health messaging concerning the recommended amount (frequency, intensity, duration) and the types of physical activity for adults and older Australians and summarise the evidence regarding key health benefits of physical activity.