This year, why not have a go at travelling the length of New Zealand, under your own steam in the The Love NZ Challenge.

The Love NZ Challenge starts April 16th and celebrates the Te Araroa trail which officially opened in December 2011 and stretches some 3000km from Cape Reinga to Bluff.

Research undertaken by Germany's society of Nuerologists and the Stroke Society showed that 15 minutes of exercise a day made a surprising contribution to improving overall health. The study in Taiwan had over 400,000 participants whose health status was checked regularly over 8 years.

The results showed that over a lifetime there would be an expected increase of 3 years of life expectancy as well as a reduced chance of developing cancer and diseases of the cardiovascular system.

Broni McSweeney’s passion for the fitness industry was celebrated last week when she won the 2011 Fitness New Zealand Outstanding Contribution to the Industry Award.
Broni has had a career spanning almost 20 years in the fitness industry, and over that time has worked in nearly every aspect of the industry. She prides herself on doing all she can to develop a professional and connected fitness industry that gets people active.

Inactivity has significant costs to the Health System. This report looks at the economic benefit of such things as cycleways and walkways.
Read the full report on the Community and Public Health website

A study from a team of researchers, using a large population, found depression to be related to increasing moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity and decreasing sedentary time among overweight and obese adults.

Results suggested that being sedentary for large portions of the day may be more hazardous with respect to depression for adults who are overweight or obese compared with those who have a healthy body weight.

Recent research has provided good-quality evidence that sedentary behaviour in childhood does indeed "track" at moderate levels to those individuals being sedentary in adulthood. This highlights the importance of early intervention to prevent sedentary behaviour habits from forming.