HPB set to spur more residents to meet physical activity recommendations

Singapore, 5 February 2023 – The Health Promotion Board (HPB) will increase the availability of its physical activity programmes and refine its National Steps Challenge^TM, to spur more residents to meet the recommendations in the Singapore Physical Activity Guidelines (SPAG). The guidelines, launched in June 2022, provide recommendations on the duration, intensity, frequency and types of physical activity for different population segments.

Increasing availability of community programmes
Under Healthier SG, residents will have access to more physical activity programmes organised in the community, as well as self-directed programmes that enable individuals to monitor their lifestyle habits and keep active at their own convenience. As Singaporeans enrol in Healthier SG, more participants will be expected in both physical activity and self-directed programmes, and more resources will be committed to support their adoption of active lifestyles.

As one of the key agencies supporting Healthier SG, HPB will progressively scale up the overall capacity of its physical activity programmes by more than 50%, to serve around 47,000 participants every week from the current 31,000. In line with the SPAG’s recommendation to engage in a variety of physical activities for different health benefits, residents can access a wide range of activities, including Zumba, kickboxing, yoga, resistance band exercises, low-impact aerobics, and high-intensity interval training sessions. They are conducted island-wide in community spaces such as sports centres, parks, housing estates and senior activity centres, in collaboration with public and private sector partners.

Refining the National Steps Challenge^TM
The National Steps Challenge^TM leverages gamification and technology to encourage residents to keep active. It has been refreshed since April 2022, from a seasonal six-month programme to one that is always available for participation, to encourage Singaporeans to be more active throughout the year. The refreshed Challenge has been encouraging Singaporeans to embark on more active lifestyles, drawing close to 700,000 sign-ups as of January 2023.

To motivate more residents to keep active and achieve better health outcomes, the Challenge will be modified. Its programme mechanics will be streamlined to nudge participants towards achieving the SPAG-recommended physical activity duration and intensity. Particularly, adults are recommended to engage in at least 150 minutes of moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity per week, as meeting this recommendation is associated with reduced risk of premature death, incidence of coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, depression, stroke, high blood pressure, colon cancer and breast cancer. More information on moderate-intensity and vigorous-intensity physical activity can be found in Annex A.

With effect from 20 February 2023, NSC will aim to nudge participants to engage in more moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity regularly, and work towards the physical activity recommendation each week. To cater to sedentary individuals who are starting out on physical activity, or those who are unable to undertake more intensive physical activity, the programme will continue to award Healthpoints to those who clock at least 5,000 steps a day. Concurrently, the reward milestones for clocking 7,500 and 10,000 daily cumulative steps will be removed. More details can be found in Annex A.

Mdm Rahayu Mahzam, Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Health, who announced the changes to HPB’s physical activity programmes at a brisk walking community event, said: “It is good to encourage people to reduce sedentary time through efforts like the National Steps Challenge^TM. This can reduce the risks of chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes or heart diseases, but we need to do more. It is important to also nudge people to step up and do sufficient moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity as such activities can confer even more health benefits. With the anticipated increase in availability of physical activity programmes and changes to the National Steps Challenge^TM paving the way for Healthier SG, we hope more Singaporeans will cultivate the habit of being active, and work towards the nationally recommended physical activity levels for their improved health.”

Individuals are recommended to stay active and meet the guidelines through a variety of activities that improve or maintain their aerobic fitness and strengthen different muscle groups, bones and joints. These can include brisk-walking, jogging, swimming, and playing a racquet sport. Beyond recreational activities, doing effortful household chores, and taking the stairs instead of the lift can also help one to achieve the recommended physical activity duration at moderate- to vigorous-intensity.

- END -

About the Health Promotion Board
The Health Promotion Board (HPB) was established as a statutory board under the Ministry of Health, Singapore, in 2001 with the vision of building “A Nation of Healthy People”. HPB aims to empower Singaporeans to attain optimal health, increase the quality and years of healthy life and prevent illness, disability and premature death. As the key agency overseeing national health promotion and disease prevention programmes, HPB spearheads health education, promotion and prevention programmes as well as creates a health-supportive environment in Singapore. It develops and organises health promotion and disease prevention programmes, reaching out to the healthy, the at-risk and the unhealthy at all stages of life – children, youths, adults and older Singapore residents. Its health promotion initiatives cover nutrition, physical activity, mental well-being, health screening, tobacco control and communicable disease education.
More information can be found at HPB's official website ↗ (opens in new tab).

ANNEX A

Moderate- to Vigorous-intensity Physical Activity

One way to understand and measure the intensity of physical activity is by understanding how physical activity affects breathing and heart rate.

• Based on the Singapore Physical Activity Guidelines:

• Determine whether the heart rate is within the target zone during physical activity:

*Maximum heart rate based on age is estimated by subtracting your age from 220.

Full recommendations and safety tips for physical activity can be found in the complete set of the Singapore Physical Activity Guidelines ↗ (opens in new tab).

Changes to the National Steps Challenge^TM