Dr Gill Perkins and Dr Ian Swaine from Canterbury Christ Church University conducted a survey of 300 people at the Ideal Home Exhibition at the Kent Showground on Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th February.  The experts explored the public's exercise habits, their perception of physical activity and their awareness of local schemes which aim to boost people's fitness.

Dr Perkins and Dr Swaine discovered that Wii-Fit was the most popular form of home exercise over home-gym equipment and exercise DVDs, although most people who use Wii-Fit only use it once a week.

They also found that people tended to do more physical activity outside of the home, suggesting that people may not be taking advantage of their immediate environment for keeping active.

Forty four per cent of those surveyed said they were aware of guidelines for physical activity for health, however, there were various ideas as to what the guidelines were.

The majority of people said they that if they wanted advice about physical activity or weight loss and they would prefer to obtain the information from a health specialist or the internet rather than magazines or television.

Dr Perkins said: "It is surprising how many people in Kent use their homes to keep themselves physically active.  Wii Fit is a particular favourite, with many people regularly using home-gym equipment and exercise DVDs.  But it's not all about exercise equipment - Kent people are keen on getting active in the garden too."

Dr Perkins continued: "The people of Kent are even more active outside of their home environment.  Popular activities include brisk walking and cycling, with many making regular trips to the gym.  The people we spoke to were well-informed as to physical activity guidelines, with the internet being a popular choice for seeking out information.  However, there is still a significant minority of people in Kent who do not do any kind of physical activity and, of those who were active, most were not active enough to combat a gradual increase in body weight over time."

The Department of Sport Science, Tourism and Leisure is one of the few Departments in the UK that conducts research across the full range of sports-related subjects, with a research aim:

To conduct high-quality scientific and social scientific research into physiological, behavioural and socio-cultural aspects of sport, tourism and leisure.

Our research is currently recognised nationally and, following the last national Research Assessment Exercise in 2001, the Department receives Research Capability funding from the Higher Education Funding Council for England to build its research capacity. The Department is committed to multi-disciplinarity and interdisciplinarity, and to the development of robust research methodology. Our research is organised around three main themes:

- Physiological Research
- Behavioural Research
- Socio-Cultural Research

Canterbury Christ Church University