# Objective Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour Patterns Among Informal Carers in the BCS70 Cohort

## TL;DR

This study finds that informal carers in the UK have very low physical activity levels, similar to non-carers, but still fall far below public health guidelines.

## Contribution

The study provides the first objective benchmark of physical activity and sedentary behavior among informal carers in Great Britain using accelerometer data.

## Key findings

- Only 2% of informal carers met the moderate-to-vigorous physical activity guideline.
- Caring hours were not associated with differences in physical activity or sedentary behavior.
- Very low adherence to physical activity guidelines was observed among carers, regardless of demographic or health factors.

## Abstract

Public health relevance—How does this work relate to a public health issue?
This work addresses a public health issue by highlighting extremely low adherence to the UK Chief Medical Officers’ Physical Activity Guidelines among informal carers, a large and essential population whose lack of physical activity or prolonged sedentary behaviour increases their risk of chronic disease, poor mental health and overall wellbeing.By providing objective, population-level evidence of carers’ physical activity and sedentary behaviour patterns, this study can inform prevention strategies and tailored interventions to protect carers’ health and sustain health and social care systems

This work addresses a public health issue by highlighting extremely low adherence to the UK Chief Medical Officers’ Physical Activity Guidelines among informal carers, a large and essential population whose lack of physical activity or prolonged sedentary behaviour increases their risk of chronic disease, poor mental health and overall wellbeing.

By providing objective, population-level evidence of carers’ physical activity and sedentary behaviour patterns, this study can inform prevention strategies and tailored interventions to protect carers’ health and sustain health and social care systems

Public health significance—Why is this work of significance to public health?
Informal carers are a large, essential population supporting and underpinning health and social care systems, this work highlights that they have extremely low adherence to physical activity guidelines, placing them at an increased risk of poor mental and physical health outcomes.This study identifies carers as a priority group for targeted public health interventions to reduce inactivity, protecting carer wellbeing whilst supporting and sustaining wider healthcare systems.

Informal carers are a large, essential population supporting and underpinning health and social care systems, this work highlights that they have extremely low adherence to physical activity guidelines, placing them at an increased risk of poor mental and physical health outcomes.

This study identifies carers as a priority group for targeted public health interventions to reduce inactivity, protecting carer wellbeing whilst supporting and sustaining wider healthcare systems.

Public health implications—What are the key implications or messages for practitioners, policy makers and/or researchers in public health?
Informal carers should be recognised as a priority group in public health policy and practice, with flexible, tailored physical activity interventions that account for time constraints, caregiving demands, and wellbeing needs.Researchers and policymakers should use objective monitoring and richer contextual data on caring roles to design, target, and evaluate interventions that can improve carers’ physical activity, health, and long-term sustainability of care.

Informal carers should be recognised as a priority group in public health policy and practice, with flexible, tailored physical activity interventions that account for time constraints, caregiving demands, and wellbeing needs.

Researchers and policymakers should use objective monitoring and richer contextual data on caring roles to design, target, and evaluate interventions that can improve carers’ physical activity, health, and long-term sustainability of care.

While the health benefits of physical activity (PA) and reduced sedentary behaviour (SB) are well established, informal carers remain an under-researched group. Despite being known to face many barriers to PA, informal carers’ activity levels remain unclear due to mixed findings from previous research. Specifically, objective PA and SB levels of informal carers in Great Britain are currently unknown. The aim of this study was to examine PA and SB among informal carers using accelerometer data from the ‘Age 46’ Survey of the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70). Analyses of Covariance and Logistic Regressions were performed to: (i) compare carers’ and non-carers’ PA and SB, (ii) examine the impact of caring hours on PA and SB, and (iii) identify predictors of adherence to the UK Chief Medical Officers’ PA guidelines. After adjusting for covariates, (i) no differences were observed in PA or SB outcomes between carers and non-carers (p > 0.05) (e.g., mean daily step count 9316.06 vs. 9554.11 and mean sitting time 1.09 h/day vs. 1.19 h/day, respectively). (ii) Caring hours were not associated with differences in PA or SB (p > 0.05). (iii) Logistic regressions revealed very low adherence to PA guidelines among carers: 2% met the moderate-to-vigorous PA guideline, 26% met the muscle-strengthening guideline, and only 1% met the combined recommendations. Demographic and health variables did not explain adherence to these guidelines. This study found no significant differences in objectively measured PA and SB between informal carers and non-carers or caring hours. However, adherence to the UK CMOs’ PA guidelines among carers was extremely low. These findings provide the first objective benchmark of carers’ PA and SB patterns in Great Britain and highlight guideline adherence as a key area for future interventions. Future research should consider the wider context of caring in order to develop flexible, tailored interventions that can support carers in achieving an active lifestyle whilst managing responsibilities.