Physical activity

Health & Wellbeing priority:

Reduce physical inactivity

Reducing physical inactivity has wide ranging benefits to population health and wellbeing.  It can reduce the prevalence of long-term illnesses, improve mental health, and reduce the need for health and social care support.

  • It is estimated that physical inactivity causes 6% of coronary heart disease, 7% of type 2 diabetes, 10% of breast cancer and 10% of colon cancer.
  • Physical activity in older people is a powerful intervention in preventing frailty and promoting successful ageing, which becomes increasingly important as the Trafford population ages.

How many adults are inactive in Trafford?

Based on the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities definition (which includes sporting activities, fitness activities, cycling for leisure and sport, cycling for travel, walking for leisure, walking for travel, creative or artistic dance and gardening as forms of activity), an estimated 1 in 5 (22.2%) Trafford adults (aged 19+) are physically inactive (i.e. less than 30 minutes per week). The proportion inactive in Trafford is statically similar to the England average (23.4%) (Physical Activity Profile, 2020/21).

The most recent Trafford estimate represents an improvement (reduction) on 2015/16 baseline, when prevalence of inactivity was estimated at nearer to one in four (24.0%) (Physical Activity Profile, 2020/21).

What groups of adults in Trafford are more likely to be inactive?

There are inequalities in levels of inactivity between Trafford’s different communities and places, and these differences are a cause of inequalities in health and wellbeing.  Since the first Active Lives Survey results from November 2015-16 to May 2019-20, the levels of inactivity in Trafford’s residents have been declining. After the May 2019-20 survey, inactivity levels have been increasing. Comparing levels of physical inactivity in Trafford with the average for Greater Manchester, Trafford is much lower for all (Active Lives Survey, 2021).

Analyses of data from the Active Lives survey for people aged 16 and over (November 2020-21), suggest the following inequalities:

Socio-economic status: The survey presents socio-economic classification as higher, middle, and lower income categories. For higher income categories, the level of physical inactivity is 14.0%, lower than the middle and lower income categories, where levels of physical inactivity are 29.0% and 42.8% respectively. Compared with November 2015-16 survey, there has been a decline in physical inactivity in the middle income category (32.9% to 29.0%), though this is a notable increase following it inactivity rates reaching 16.4% in the May 2018-19 survey. November 2020-21 is also the first year in which data for lower income categories has been available.

Gender: The difference in physical inactivity between men and women has narrowed over time, with men typically having lower inactivity levels. There was a gap of over 10% in November 2015-16 survey (20.8% of men being physically inactive, compared to 33.1% of women), compared to a gap of 0.1% in the November 2020-21 survey (25.5% of men being physically inactive, 25.6% of women).

Age: Around 53.1% of Trafford’s over 75s are inactive compared with about half of this in all other 16+ age groups, 18.8% for those aged 35-54, and 28.2% in 55-74 year olds. A comparison cannot be made with the 16-34 year old age group for the period November 2020-21 due to lack of data stemming from a small sample size.

Disability: Around 39.4% of Trafford adults with a disability or long term health condition are inactive compared with 23.7% of those without a disability.

Place: Inactivity rates are generally higher in the North and West compared with South of the borough.

Other inequalities

The number of adults who take part in the Active Lives Survey for some groups within Trafford is not sufficiently large to be able to make reliable estimates of levels of physical inactivity. However, analysis across England as a whole shows the following inequalities (Physical Activity Profile, 2021):

Ethnic group: Levels of inactivity are higher than average in adults who belong to a Black (31.6%), Asian (35.2%), or Other (31.2%) ethnic group.

Education: About 46.5% of people with no qualifications are inactive, compared to 16.2% among those educated to degree level.

What services are in place to reduce physical inactivity?

Getting Active:

Being active has huge benefits for physical and mental health and wellbeing. There are lots of ways in which people can increase your activity levels – from walking more, to taking part in more formal sport or physical activity sessions, or just trying to spend less time sitting down.

It has been hard for lots of people to keep active during the pandemic, with facilities, groups and activities closed or limited to small numbers. The NHS One You exercise pages have lots of guides and tips to get you moving, including the popular Couch to 5k app.

Other services include:

  • Trafford Leisure
  • Couch to 5k: MileShyClub supports absolute beginners to get into running and gradually build up to running 5km.
  • Age UK Trafford provides exercise classes for older people who have had a fall, or are at risk of falling
  • Empower You – online! offer exercise sessions for people with learning impairments and autism and their supporters (carers, family, friends, support staff)

Healthy Weight and Weight Management:

Services for Adults and older people include:

  • Slimming World - 12 weeks free support in a group session
  • Fitfans - 12 weeks of football and healthy eating
  • Get Slim - 3 month free access to digital weight management support
  • Specialist Weight Management Service –for people who need a higher level of support or wish to consider bariatric surgery.

Children, young people and families:

  • Foundation 92 family health improvement programme – for families in Partington and Sale West. 
  • Children and young people’s specialist weight management programme - for those with a BMI centile >98%
  • School nurse and health visitor support - for support to eat healthily and be more active.

Additional information of services available can be found in the Trafford Directory.

Further information

Summary: Reduce physical inactivity – Trafford

 

Greater Sport: Trafford Profile on Physical Activity