Stroll on! Thousands miss out on health benefits of walking

• Video report by ITV News Anglia's Matthew Hudson

Shocking figures from Public Health England (PHE) show that around 3/4 of a million adults fail to walk for ten minutes at least once a month.

Over 740,000 adults aged 40-60 in our region do not achieve ten minutes of continuous brisk walking over the course of a month and are missing out on health benefits, says the health body.

The sedentary nature of modern, busy lives has been blamed - making it difficult for many to find the time for enough exercise to benefit their health.

The figures - which have been drawn from evidence reviewed by PHE - come as it launches a new 'One You' physical activity campaign.

The campaign is encouraging adults to build 10 minutes continuous brisk walking into their day as a simple way to improve their health. This is particularly aimed at those who have an inactive or low activity lifestyle and may find incorporating activity into their day challenging.

They have developed an ‘Active 10’ app to show how much brisk walking a person is doing each day and how to incorporate more of it into their lifestyles.

Barbara Paterson, Deputy Director for Health and Wellbeing at PHE East of England, said:

The Active 10 app was developed by Public Health England in collaboration with The University of Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam University and the National Centre for Sports and Exercise Medicine.