SPARC Facts 1997-2001

The CPI (Couch Potato Index)

The Push Play campaign and the New Zealand physical activity guidelines Movement=Health: Guidelines for Promoting Physical Activity (Hillary Commission 2001) recommend that adults do at least 30 minutes of moderate intensity⁴ physical activity, on most, if not all days of the week. Most days is defined as a minimum of five days per week. This recommendation is based on the US Surgeon General’s report Physical Activity and Health (1996) which found that 30 minutes moderate intensity physical activity, on most days of the week, is enough to maintain health and prevent some diseases (see page 23 for more information on why we need to be more active).

In addition to finding out about the total time adults are active per week we want to know how regularly active they are. To find this out, we have developed a CPI (Couch Potato Index) which measures the number of days in the last week that adults participate in sport or active leisure for 30 minutes or more, which tells us the proportion of adults who meet the physical activity guidelines (that is those who do at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity on five days or more).

Regularity of physical activity

The results show that while 68% of adults are active for more than 2.5 hours per week, only four out of 10 adults (39%) are active for 30 minutes or more on at least five days a week. Just over four out of 10 people (42%) were active for 30 minutes or more on between one and four days. And almost two out of 10 adults (19%) had not taken part in any sport or physical activity in the previous week.

These results show that some people are reaching the 2.5-hour threshold by being active for more than 30 minutes on fewer than five days a week; for example by playing sport for 2.5 hours on a Saturday and not being active on any other day during the week. While these people are benefiting from the activity they do, they would benefit even more from regular activity and being active for at least 30 minutes on most other days of the week.

Readers should note that the chart below shows that 19% of adults were not active in the last week. This figure is higher than the 10% in the sedentary category in the chart on page 5, because the figure below also includes people who were active in the previous four weeks but not in the last week of those four weeks – these people are classed as relatively inactive in the earlier chart.

Four out of 10 adults are active for 30 minutes a day on five or more days a week

Ethnicity and gender

Māori men are more likely to be active on five or more days per week than their counterparts, especially men from other ethnic groups, who are more likely to be active on 1-4 days per week. Māori and European women are also more likely to be active on five days or more each week than Pacific women (who are more likely to be active on 1-4 days each week) or women from other ethnic groups. Women from other ethnic groups are more likely than any other women not to be active on any days.

	All adults %		Māori adults %		European adults %		Pacific adults %		Other ethnic groups adults %
	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male
Not active	18	19	21	22	17	18	20	21	30	25
Active 1-4 days	41	43	39	34	42	45	45	42	39	45
Active 5+ days	40	38	40	43	41	38	35	37	31	30

Age

Adults aged 25-49 years of age are more likely to be active on 1-4 days per week, whereas younger adults and older adults (in particular those 65 years or over) are more likely to be undertaking 30 minutes of physical activity on five or more days per week.

	All adults %	18-24 yrs %	25-34 yrs %	35-49 yrs %	50-64 yrs %	65 yrs+ %
Not active	19	18	20	19	17	19
Active 1-4 days	42	41	46	45	43	33
Active 5+ days	39	41	34	36	40	48

Income and education

Adults with no secondary school education are more likely not to be physically active and are less likely to be active 1-4 days each week. However, there is a similar proportion of these adults who are active for at least 30 minutes a day on five or more days a week when compared to other adults.

Those adults who have a lower available household income are more likely to be physically active for 30 minutes a day on five or more days a week than those adults who have a higher available household income.

Activity level	Not active %	Active 1-4 days %	Active 5+ days %	Number of adults surveyed
No secondary school	27	35	38	809
School education	20	42	38	5585
Tertiary educated	15	44	41	3985
Tech/Trade Cert/Prof. Training	19	43	38	1977
Other	20	42	38	176
Less than $18,000	21	35	44	2849
$18,001-$36,000	19	41	40	2861
$36,001-$60,000	18	47	35	2457
$60,001+	15	46	38	2453
All adults	19	42	39	12,569

Note: Information was not collected about the number of days a week young people were active.

How active are adults compared to the same time last year?

Adults were asked to compare their level of activity to around the same time last year. 24% of adults spend more time being active compared to the same time last year. Those 25 years of age or over are more likely to spend the same amount of time being active compared to last year than adults aged 24 years or younger.

Māori, Pacific people and adults from other ethnic groups are more likely to spend less amount of time being active compared to last year. European adults, however, are more likely to spend around the same amount of time being active.

Compared to last year… %	Women	Men	18-24 years	25-34 years	35-49 years	50-64 years	65+ years
Active more time	26	22	34	29	25	19	10
Active same time	46	50	28	38	49	59	66
Active less time	29	28	34	33	26	22	24
Number of adults surveyed	6925	5618	1266	2529	3930	2543	2273

Compared to last year… %	Māori	European	Pacific	Other ethnic groups	All adults
Active more time	26	23	28	22	24
Active same time	38	51	37	38	48
Active less time	36	26	34	40	28
Number of adults surveyed	1621	9827	431	651	12,543

Why more active

The main reasons adults gave to explain why they are more active included wanting to be healthier and fitter (34%), wanting the enjoyment and challenge of becoming more active (16%), having more spare time (11%), losing weight and/or keeping their weight stable (10%) and having taken up a new sport or joining a gym (8%).

Why less active

28% of adults spend less time being active than at the same time last year. The main reasons why they are less active are increased workload/working longer hours (36%), general illness/injuries and operations (19%), limited time as a result of having a young family (15%), being too busy or having no time (12%) and being busy with study (8%).

Any information, advertising or promotion that changed adults’ activity levels

Adults were asked whether there was any information, advertising or promotion (anything that they had heard, read or seen) that had influenced them to do more or less sport or physical activity than last year.

Close to nine in 10 (88%) identified that their participation in sport and active leisure activities had not been influenced by anything they had seen, heard or read. There was little difference between men and women, and adults of different ages and ethnic groups.

	Women	Men	18-24 years	25-34 years	35-49 years	50-64 years	65+ years
Yes %	13	11	13	12	13	13	7
No %	87	89	87	88	87	87	93
Number of adults surveyed	2001	1532	498	891	1132	565	446

	Māori	European	Pacific	Other ethnic groups	All adults
Yes %	11	12	13	13	12
No %	89	88	87	87	88
Number of adults surveyed	532	2669	156	176	3533

The main sources of information/promotion that changed adults’ activity levels included magazines/ brochures/ newspapers/ books (28%), TV advertising/programmes (21%), a specific organisation (16%) and a gym promotion (10%). Close to one in 10 (9%) adults were influenced by their GP to change their level of activity.

	Women %	Men %	18-24 years %	25-34 years %	35-49 years %	50-64 years %	65+ years %
General	5	3	3	2	6	3	11
Magazines/brochures/ newspapers/books	24	33	29	16	36	33	6
TV advertising/ programmes	18	25	12	19	30	16	29
Specific event	3	9	5	5	6	5	0
Organisation	19	10	27	11	10	16	17
Gym advertising/ promotion	15	3	22	10	6	1	7
Word of mouth	8	7	6	14	6	2	12
General SPARC promotions/campaigns	2	5	0	2	3	12	0
Specific SPARC promotions/campaigns	7	3	6	6	5	4	3
Advice from GP	10	8	1	10	8	19	19
Other	12	10	12	23	9	2	8
Number of adults surveyed	261	156	60	110	151	68	28

	Māori %	European %	Pacific %	Other ethnic groups %	All adults %
General	0	5	8	0	4
Magazines/brochures/ newspapers/books	37	26	13	40	28
TV advertising/ programmes	22	18	55	23	21
Specific event	0	6	0	10	5
Organisation	6	18	3	15	16
Gym advertising/ promotion	6	10	0	26	10
Word of mouth	13	7	4	7	7
General SPARC promotions/campaigns	5	4	0	0	3
Specific SPARC promotions/campaigns	6	6	0	2	5
Advice from GP	9	10	5	0	9
Other	13	12	16	3	12
Number of adults surveyed	58	315	21	23	417

Note: The sample sizes for adults aged 65+ years, Pacific adults and adults from other ethnic groups are very small. Use such figures with caution and treat them as only indicative and not conclusive.

Awareness of physical activity messages

Adults were also asked to rate the two statements that are reflected in the Push Play physical activity campaign to identify if people agree with key physical activity and health messages. The majority of adults (84%) agree that 30 minutes a day of physical activity is beneficial to their health. Close to three in five (59%) also agree that vigorous exercise for at least 20 minutes a time, three times a week, is beneficial to their health.

	Agree %			Neither/Nor %	Disagree %
	Strongly agree	Agree		Neither/Nor %	Disagree	Strongly disagree
Being active for at least 30 minutes a day is enough	22		62	6	9		1
Vigorous exercise for at least 20 minutes each time 3 times a week is beneficial to health	13		46	16	24		1

As the following table shows, there is little difference between men and women, or among adults of different ages and ethnic groups in respect to the “30 minutes a day is enough” message.

Being active for at least 30 minutes a day is enough	Agree %			Neither/Nor %	Disagree %
Being active for at least 30 minutes a day is enough	Strongly agree	Agree		Neither/Nor %	Disagree	Strongly disagree
Male	21		61	7	10		1
Female	24		63	5	8		1
18-24 years	23		58	9	9		1
25-34 years	25		60	5	8		1
35-49 years	25		66	6	8		1
50-64 years	19		65	5	9		1
65+ years	17		62	6	11		1
Māori	18		62	8	11		1
European	23		62	6	9		1
Pacific	20		68	6	5		1
Other ethnic groups	20		64	6	8		1

As adults grow older, however, they are more likely to disagree with the statement that vigorous exercise 20 minutes a time, three times per week, is beneficial to their health. Pacific, Māori and adults from other ethnic groups are more likely to agree with the statement than Europeans, as the following table shows.

Vigorous exercise for at least 20 minutes each time 3 times a week is beneficial to health	Agree %			Neither/Nor %	Disagree %
	Strongly agree	Agree		Neither/Nor %	Disagree	Strongly disagree
Male	13		46	16	22		2
Female	13		47	15	26		1
18-24 years	15		50	17	16		2
25-34 years	15		48	15	19		1
35-49 years	15		47	16	23		1
50-64 years	10		45	16	27		2
65+ years	7		38	16	36		3
Māori	13		50	14	21		1
European	12		44	16	26		2
Pacific	13		57	14	15		1
Other ethnic groups	16		47	15	20		1

Stair climbing

Adults were asked on how many days over the past week they climbed one or more flights⁵ of stairs. 68% of adults indicated that they used stairs in the last seven days. Adults aged 65 years or over, Māori and Pacific adults are less likely to use stairs.

The following table shows results by gender and adults of different ages and ethnic groups.

No. of days stairs were used in last week	Did not use stairs %	1-3 days %	4-6 days %	7 days %	Number of adults surveyed
Women	34	20	15	32	3828
Men	31	16	19	34	3270
18-24 years	26	14	24	36	686
25-34 years	31	21	21	28	1418
35-49 years	28	17	18	37	2224
50-64 years	31	18	16	35	1444
65+ years	50	19	3	27	1324
Māori	45	18	17	20	884
European	30	18	17	35	5668
Pacific	43	17	21	19	264
Other ethnic groups	28	15	14	43	282
All adults	32	18	17	33	7098

Adults were also asked to estimate the number of flights of stairs they had used each day in the past week. Of those adults who used the stairs in the last seven days, around a third of adults climbed between 1-4 flights of stairs per day, 32% between 5-10 stairs and 34% of adults climbed 11 or more flights of stairs.

The following table shows results by gender and adults of different ages and ethnic groups. As adults grow older they are less likely to climb more than 9-10 flights of stairs.

No. of flights of stairs typically used per day	1-2 flights %	3-4 flights %	5-6 flights %	7-8 flights %	9-10 flights %	11+ flights %	Number of adults surveyed
Women	22	16	13	7	11	30	2339
Men	17	13	13	8	11	37	2154
18-24 years	17	15	15	9	10	34	471
25-34 years	22	15	15	8	11	30	913
35-49 years	17	15	13	6	13	37	1535
50-64 years	17	14	13	9	10	37	960
65+ years	32	13	10	8	11	27	613
Māori	18	16	14	9	10	33	466
European	20	14	13	8	11	34	3690
Pacific	17	15	19	8	9	32	141
Other ethnic groups	21	12	18	4	13	31	196
All adults	20	14	13	8	11	34	4493

4 Moderate intensity physical activity is defined as activity that will cause a slight but noticeable increase in breathing and heart rate (a good example is brisk walking).

5 A flight of stairs is one storey.

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