Gradual move to healthier living

A HEALTHIER lifestyle is gradually being adopted by Britons, although for many, recreation still consists of slumping in front of the television, according to a Government survey published yesterday.

More people are taking part in sporting activities, even if it only involves going for a walk, says the General Household Survey compiled by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys.

The survey, the latest in a series of annual reports that started in 1971, was compiled from interviews with almost 20,000 adults in 1990. Sixty-five per cent of the respondents had done some kind of sporting activity in the four weeks before the interview, compared with 61 per cent in 1987.

The most popular was walking, with 41 per cent having been for a walk of two miles or more, compared with 38 per cent three years previously. Keep fit, yoga, ten-pin bowling, golf, hockey and field sports all showed above-average increases.

However, most people still prefer less frenetic leisure activities. In the same period, 99 per cent of the population watched television, 91 per cent of men and 87 per cent of women listened to the radio and 78 per cent of men and 74 per cent of women played CDs, records or cassettes.

The health lobby is continuing to get its message across about the dangers of smoking: 31 per cent of men and 29 per cent of women aged 16 or over smoked cigarettes, compared with 33 per cent and 30 per cent in 1988.

Resistance to giving up was strongest in Scotland (34 per cent smokers) and the North-west (33 per cent), while East Anglia (26 per cent) had the lowest proportion of smokers.

Only 16 per cent of both sexes in the professional class smoked, compared with 48 per cent of men (up 5 per cent) and 36 per cent of women (down 3 per cent) in the unskilled manual group. There was a move towards low-tar cigarettes.

The proportion of people who drink more alcohol than the recommended limit of 21 units a week for men and 14 for women was 28 per cent of men and 11 per cent of women, an increase of 1 per cent for each sex since 1988. One unit equals a half-pint of beer or lager, a measure of spirits or a glass of wine. The biggest drinkers are men aged 20-24.

General Household Survey 1990; HMSO; pounds 18.50.