Now we’re told to lug bags of shopping to keep healthy

EXERCISES to strengthen your muscles, such as carrying heavy shopping or intensive gardening, should be done at least twice a week, according to official health guidelines.

An NHS Chief Medical Officer has urged adults to incorporate the activities into their routines to help cut their risk of diabetes, heart disease and mental health conditions. The recommendations are contained within the NHS’s new physical activity guidelines, which have been updated for the first time since 2011.

Dame Sally Davies believes that adults who meet the target of at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week – including muscle strengthening on two days – can reduce their risk of type 2 diabetes by 40 per cent, heart disease by 35 per cent and depression by 30 per cent.

Muscle-strengthening activities could also include carrying small children, brisk vacuuming or climbing several flights of stairs, or more proactive exercises such as yoga, pilates or press-ups.

The guidelines aim to improve strength in the main muscle groups, which starts to decline after the age of 50. Building strength and balance has been shown to reduce the risk of falls and bone-thinning in later life.

In addition, the advice urges pregnant women and new mothers to do the same amount of exercise as other adults, and for babies to be given at least 30 minutes of ‘tummy time’ a day, which includes semi-crawling and pulling themselves.

Meanwhile, over-65s are being encouraged to take up bowls, dancing or tai chi – a Chinese martial art – which are less strenuous ways of maintaining strength and balance.

The previous guidelines stated that adults should do 150 minutes of exercise a week, ideally in sessions of at least ten minutes on most days of the week.

But the new advice is more flexible and suggests that doing one or two longer bursts – such as at the weekend – is just as beneficial. The latest figures show that only 62 per cent of adults are meeting the existing recommendations, just 58 per cent of women and 66 per cent of men.

Dame Sally, who will step down as Chief Medical Officer at the end of the month, stressed that there is no need to join an expensive gym to meet the new requirements.

She said: ‘The ideal is to build [exercise] into your day. Instead of catching the lift a floor or two, walk up, carry your shopping, get off the bus a few stops early, see what you can do in your normal life so it’s not a burden.’ She urged adults to avoid sitting down for longer than two hours at a time, especially when at work. While this is not in the official recommendations, she said there was growing evidence that prolonged sedentary periods increase the risk of heart disease.

The physical activity guidelines apply UK-wide and have been cowritten by Scotland’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr Catherine Calderwood.

She said: ‘You always feel better for being active and we want as many people as possible to protect their future health and start their journey to a healthier life now.

‘Since 2011, the evidence on the benefits of physical activity for our health has become even more compelling.

‘Much of the guidance has been retained, such as 150 minutes per week of moderate intensity activity. But there is now greater flexibility in how these goals can be achieved.

‘Our environment can make it difficult to be healthy, and our health is being damaged by inactivity.

‘But the good news is that even small changes can make a big difference over time. Any amount of physical activity is beneficial – the new guidelines emphasise any is better than none, and more is better still.’

The guidelines single out the benefits of High Intensity Interval Training, an increasingly popular form of exercise which involves sprinting or cycling very fast for short periods of time. They suggest adults can get away with doing less than 75 minutes of exercise a week if they do very vigorous activity.