The newly renamed Australian Sports Commission, ‘Sport Australia’ has launched a campaign to encourage Australians of all backgrounds, ages and abilities to become physically active and ‘move’ more often.
The campaign, Move It AUS calls on adults to find at least 30 minutes for physical activity each day and 60 minutes for children.
Chief Executive of Sport Australia, Kate Palmer said inactivity was having a negative impact on the Australian community’s health and waistlines with us now ranking as the third most obese English speaking country in the world.
“This inactivity is costing us dearly,” Ms Palmer said.
“One study predicts Australia faces $88 billion of extra health and social costs over the next 10 years if people don’t get moving.”
She said she was confident the new campaign would encourage Australians to put their health and wellbeing first and make incremental changes towards a more active lifestyle.
“Recognising that we lead busy and hectic lives, the Move It AUS campaign will raise awareness and provide useful tools to help Australians to prioritise physical activity,” Ms Palmer said.
“It will encourage new behaviours that will lead to a healthier life.”
She said the campaign was part of Sport Australia’s new vision for Australia to become the world’s most active sporting nation by reducing inactivity by 15 per cent by 2030.
Chief Medical Officer at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) Dr David Hughes said that just 30 minutes a day would be enough to reduce the risk of heart disease by 35 per cent, help people feel fit and flexible and improves their overall health and wellbeing.
“Your 30 minutes a day doesn’t need to be in a gym or on the sporting field,” Dr Hughes said.
“It doesn’t even need to be all at once, it just needs to raise the heart-rate.”
The new campaign is to run across Australia.
