Everyday movement

Everyday movement covers physical activity and inactivity outside structured training: time spent sitting, light activity such as walking about the house, sport and recreational hobbies, and mind-body practices such as yoga and tai chi. The World Health Organization recommends that adults limit sedentary time (time spent sitting or lying down while awake) and replace it with activity of any intensity, including light activity, alongside 150 to 300 minutes a week of moderate activity [1].

Sitting is the most studied part of this area. In a pooled analysis of more than one million adults, the least active people who sat over 8 hours a day had 59% higher mortality (risk of death) than very active people who sat under 4 hours, while about 60 to 75 minutes a day of moderate activity removed the excess risk linked to sitting [2]. In studies using wearable motion sensors, even light activity was associated with substantially lower mortality [3]. Television viewing, total sitting time, uninterrupted sitting and standing are covered in sedentary time, and step counts in walking and steps.

Population studies link most sports to lower mortality compared with inactivity. In the Copenhagen City Heart Study, estimated life expectancy gains ranged from 9.7 years for tennis to 1.5 years for health-club activities [4], and a British study of 80,306 adults found the largest reduction, 47%, for racquet sports [5]. These comparisons are observational (they track people rather than assigning a sport) and based on small groups for each sport; they are described in sports and active hobbies, along with running, cycling, dancing and gardening.

Mind-body exercise combines movement with attention to breathing and posture. Tai chi practice was associated with 20% lower mortality in 61,477 Shanghai men [6] and reduced the number of older people who fell by 20% in randomised trials (in which participants are assigned to groups by chance) [7]; yoga lowered systolic blood pressure (the upper number) by about 6 mmHg across 44 trials [8]. The evidence is summarised in yoga and tai chi, with related material in balance training and fall prevention.