Insight Blog

To supplement the Active Lives Surveys (Adult and Children & Young People), Sport England are publishing a series of briefings providing a regular picture of physical activity behaviours and attitudes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Due to the government issuing guidance on social distancing and limiting people to one piece of outdoor exercise a day, Sport England commissioned Savanta ComRes to conduct regular surveys. Each week, over a three-day period, Savanta ComRes survey 2,000 adults to assess their activity levels and attitudes towards physical activity.

Data has been weighted to be representative of adults in England by age, gender, region and social grade, including those with children aged under 16 in their households.

To read the latest briefing yourself, please click here.

Week 8: 22-25 May

While the overall activity levels remained stable, running and jogging levels reached a new peak, as did informal play at home, and some inequalities lessened.

• 21% of adults did less activity this week than the week before, while 32% did more
• 64% of adults think it's more important to be active during the outbreak compared to other times
• 71% of adults agree exercise is helping them manage their physical health, with 65% using it to manage their mental health
• 64% of adults walked in the last week, 22% jogged, 14% cycled and 45% did home-based activity
• 32% of children, according to adults in their household, are doing fewer than 30 minutes of activity a day, while 22% are doing more than an hour.

With the slight easing in restrictions, 'other' sport and physical activity category increased as people added more variety into how they got active.

Of those in the C2DE group, 33% did at least 30 minutes of physical activity on five separate days in the week – the highest percentage yet.

And the figure for disabled people or those with a long-term health condition is up to 29%, while the value for females (33%, compared to 35% of males) was at its highest level since week one.

People are also finding it easier to be active, with 70& of people – the highest yet – saying they have more time to be active and 41%, compared to 36% the week before, finding it easier to be active.

Data from c. 2,000 respondents was weighted to be representative of adults in England by age, gender, region and social grade.

Full data tables can be found on the Savanta ComRes website.