Physical Activity for Adults (18 to 64 Years Old)

Benefits and Guidelines

Your whole day matters. The Canadian 24-hour Movement Guidelines for Adults recommends a combination of physical activity, sedentary behaviours and sleep, for the most health benefits and to live your best life.

The guidelines recommend you:

Move every week, including moderate to vigorous physical activity, muscle strengthening activities, light physical activity, and even standing.
Break up sedentary behaviour like sitting during the day.
Reduce recreational screen time.
Aim for 7 to 9 hours of sleep every night, with a regular bed and wake up time.

Physical Literacy

Physical literacy is the ability, skills, confidence, knowledge and motivation to engage in physical activity for life. A supportive environment for physical literacy encourages movement, removes barriers, celebrates effort, and supports confidence so that people want to be active for life. It is one that makes it easy, safe, inclusive, and enjoyable for people to move, practice skills, and build confidence across the lifespan.

Physical literacy is a journey. It develops from early childhood through older adulthood and looks different for each person depending on their abilities, culture, and experiences.

Adults require regular physical activity to maintain basic health and fitness and prevent injuries in different environments and activities. Physical literacy can help you stay active throughout your life, even after an injury or illness or other disruptive change.

As people enter their older years, the focus of physical literacy should be to support durability, safety and quality of life, and to maintain independence.

Visit the site below to learn more about physical literacy across the lifespan.
Developing Physical Literacy – Building a New Normal for All Canadians