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Ministers pledge to keep active
29/01/2009
Public Health Minister Shona Robison is flying the flag for physical activity for the Scottish Government.
The Minister will today make a personal keep fit pledge and has recruited Ministerial colleagues to do the same.
Communities Minister Stewart Maxwell, Schools Minister Maureen Watt, Children's Minister Adam Ingram, Community Safety Minister Fergus Ewing and Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead, have joined Ms Robison for the fitness challenge.
They have all pledged that on at least five days a week, 30 minutes of their busy daily lives will go towards keeping active.
As many people across Scotland ditch new year's resolutions, Ministers hope to show how small lifestyle changes can help everyone reap the health benefits of reaching recommended levels of physical activity.
Ms Robison will also keep a weekly blog charting the ups and downs of fitting more physical activity into her work and personal life.
Taking part in a lunch-time walk outside Parliament, as part of the Paths to Health community led walking scheme, Ms Robison said:
"Sticking to ambitious new year's resolutions can be difficult and lure us into 'all or nothing' thinking - yet the reality is a healthy amount of physical activity can be achieved by making small changes to your lifestyle.
"It only takes 30 minutes a day of physical activity, at least five days a week, to gain enormous health benefits and help prevent may serious diseases like heart disease, cancer and stroke.
"Gardening, taking the stairs, getting off the bus a stop early and being active with your children all counts.
"For me, walking and keeping active with my daughter are things that I enjoy that also keep me fit.
"We can all benefit from being more active and I would encourage everyone to look at what active lifestyle changes they can make."
Vicki Stobie, Paths To Health Development Officer, who led the Minister's lunch-time walk at Holyrood said:
"Taking a walk at lunchtime is one of the easiest steps we can take to meet the recommended physical activity level of 30 minutes moderate exercise on most days of the week.
"Paths to Health provide support for workplace walking projects in companies and public agencies throughout Scotland as well as to hundreds of community groups.
"It's good to see that government ministers are leading by example and taking the simple steps to a healthier lifestyle."
The National Physical Activity Strategy Lets Get Scotland More Active includes the target that by 2022, 50 per cent of adults and 80 per cent of children should meet the current recommended levels of physical activity. Adults should accumulate at least 30 minutes of moderate intensity activity, five days per week and children should accumulate at least one hour of moderate intensity activity on each day of the week.
Paths to Health aim to develop local walking schemes across Scotland. There are now 200 community based schemes, over two thirds of which are located in deprived areas, with 1,700 Walk Leaders trained to lead walks in communities and up to 20,000 people participating in led walks every week.