Doctor how much physical activity should I be doing? How knowledgeable are general practitioners about the Chief Medical Officer's (2004) recommendations for active living to achieve health benefits?

n 2004, the UK Chief Medical Officer1 (CMO) published new recommendations regarding active living to achieve health benefits. For general health, adults should achieve at least 30 min of at least moderate intensity physical activity per day on at least five days of the week, while the minimum requirement for children and young people is at least 60 min. In addition, it was stated that, for many people, 45–60 min of moderate intensity physical activity per day would be necessary to prevent the development of obesity. Given that physical inactivity and obesity have become serious public health concerns,1, 2 coupled with the recent National Institute for Clinical Excellence3 public health guidance on physical activity which recommended that primary care practitioners should take every opportunity to identify inactive adults and advise them of the benefits of regular physical activity, the authors were interested to explore how knowledgeable general practitioners (GPs) were about the CMO's current recommendations for physical activity to achieve health benefits.