CMO Issues Update to Physical Activity Guidelines

On 10 July 2026, England’s Chief Medical Officer Professor Sir Chris Whitty, alongside the CMOs of the devolved nations, published an official refresh of the UK Physical Activity Guidelines.

While the baseline target of 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week remains unchanged, the update introduces critical new shifting focuses based on data from a study of 30 million people.

Key Updates and Changes

• First-Ever Guidance for GLP-1 (Weight-Loss) Users: For the first time, the guidelines explicitly mandate muscle-strengthening and resistance exercises for people taking GLP-1 agonist medications (such as Ozempic or Wegovy). This is designed to counteract the severe risk of shedding muscle mass alongside fat.
• A Strict Warning Against Working From Home (WFH) Inactivity: Sir Chris Whitty issued a specific warning to remote and hybrid workers. He noted that modern societal shifts – like WFH and online shopping – deprive millions of incidental exercise, warning that prolonged sitting is actively harmful even for those who regularly hit their 150-minute workout targets.
• “Every Movement Counts” / Flexible Targets: The guidelines heavily shift away from seeing 150 minutes as an “absolute threshold”. The updated text highlights that any movement, no matter how small, yields significant health benefits. For example, walking for just 11 minutes a day can cut the risk of early death by nearly 25%.
• Stronger Evidence for Women: The update incorporates robust new data showing a significantly stronger protective effect of physical activity on women’s long-term health compared to the data available in the 2019 guidelines.
• Shift to Weekly Averages for Youth: For children and young people (aged 5–18), the recommendation has been updated to achieve an average of 60 minutes of daily activity across the week, rather than demanding a strict minimum threshold every single day.

The overall guidance, published on the Gov.uk official portal continues to champion physical activity as the closest thing society has to a “miracle cure” for preventing chronic illnesses like stroke, dementia, and cancer.