Why is physical activity so important for your health?

Activity and Health

Why is physical activity so important for your health?

Being physically active helps to keep you fit, whilst fighting off many diseases and health complications. It also plays an extremely important role in supporting your mental health.

Physical activity is one of the best tools for keeping your body healthy.

Those living with long term health conditions are twice as likely to be inactive, even though there is lots of evidence that increased activity can actually help in the management of many long term health conditions.

On this page:
Getting active with a health condition
Exercise Referral

Those who have been diagnosed with a health condition might be concerned about their ability to exercise. However, there are plenty of activities that can be modified to enable anyone to take part.

These pages will teach you about the benefits of physical activity. You’ll also learn how getting moving can reduce the risk, help you manage and even improve certain long-term health conditions.

At the bottom of each page, you’ll find resources, signposting opportunities and support in having conversations about the benefits of physical activity and its use in managing certain conditions. There are also e-learning pages available to assist with directive conversation support.

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Guide to getting active with a health condition

Health and Social Care Resource Hub

woman being active whilst working from home

What are the benefits of physical activity?

Exercise Referral Schemes: Improve your health with physical activity

Exercise Referral is where a healthcare professional refers a patient to a tailored, supervised exercise program to help manage existing conditions or reduce the risk of developing one. The programme helps you take some simple steps to become more active safely around your medical condition.

In Norfolk and Waveney, Active NoW is the single point of exercise referral. It gives health and care professionals the peace of mind that their patients are being supported into high quality and appropriate activity.

Active NoW is for inactive individuals who do less than 30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise each week and are living with a long-term health condition (LTC) which can be managed or improved by being more active. Once the Active NoW referral from a health and care professionals has been received, the triage team will call the patient to the most suitable physical activity option for them – this may be at a leisure centre, a small community gym, or a local exercise class.

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Activity and Health