Every Move Counts: National Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour Guidelines for Ireland

The first National Physical Activity Guidelines for Ireland were published by the Health Service Executive (HSE) and Department of Health and Children in 2009. The purpose was to emphasise the importance of physical activity to the health of all Irish people and to outline evidence based recommendations for physical activity for people of all ages and abilities.
The World Health Organisation published Global Recommendations on Physical Activity in 2010. Since then many countries and international organisations have published physical activity guidelines, with the content of almost all being based on the WHO recommendations. In 2019, WHO published Physical Activity, Sedentary Behaviour and Sleep Guidelines for Children under 5 and subsequently published updated Guidelines on Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour in 2020, which addressed children over 5 and adults.
In 2023, the HSE Healthy Eating Active Living Programme, on behalf of Department of Health commissioned a research project to update the Irish National Physical Activity Guidelines and incorporate specific guidelines for younger children and on sedentary behaviour. The National Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour Guidelines for Ireland, presented in this report, update the 2009 guidelines across all age groups. They take into account new and even more compelling evidence confirming that regular physical activity has benefits for all people, for society and for the planet. The evidence summaries and links to detailed evidence briefs that underpin these guidelines are on pages 17-18.
In developing the National Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour Guidelines for Ireland, a particular emphasis was placed on optimal messaging for professional and public audiences, underpinned by evidence and consultation with stakeholders. As a result the Guidelines include key messages for public and professional audiences designed to support and enable more people more active more often.
The National Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour Guidelines for Ireland form part of a suite of policy documents that collectively aim to enable a systems approach to promotion and participation in physical activity in Ireland. These include Get Ireland Active: National Physical Activity Plan (2016-2022) and the successor to this which will be published in 2024. As well as the Healthy Ireland Framework and Strategic Implementation Plan, National Sports Policy and Sports Action Plans, National Development Plan, First Five and others.
The HSE and Department of Health would like to acknowledge the kind permission of WHO to adapt ‘WHO guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2020.’ which was published under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 IGO license.