Can eight minutes of exercise make you happier? There’s only one awful, embarrassing way to find out …

Like half of all British women, I’ve barely broken a sweat in the last year. Time to investigate the Joy Workout, says Emma Beddington

Wild swimming: health miracle or a high-risk pastime?

More people than ever are taking to rivers and lakes, but experts are increasingly advising caution before an outdoor dip

Exercise with weights linked to lower risk of early death, study says

Older adults could benefit from routine including aerobics and strengthening activities, according to researchers

The Fitbit dictates your outfit. If you can’t do 10,000 steps in it, does it really work?

Our new love of walking has subverted our fashion choices – flat shoes are de rigueur and the pencil skirt virtually extinct

Right of Way review – eccentric short film collection roams around rural England

Archive footage combines with work from modern film-makers in a rousing and sometimes puzzling series on rural England

A new start after 60: Diabetes left me depressed and scared to leave home. I still climbed Kilimanjaro

Devanshi Mavani was looking forward to travelling when she retired from accountancy. Then came the diagnosis that threw it all into question

GPs to prescribe walking and cycling in bid to ease burden on NHS

Suggestion of activities to help improve mental and physical health part of wider movement of ‘social prescribing’

School sport was a hellscape for me. At 41 I’m hooked on exercise for the first time

I felt self-conscious in PE class from the age of five because I was slower than everyone else. So I checked myself out of an active lifestyle until well into adulthood

‘Vacuuming is actually very healthy’: how to stay active in a wet Covid winter

From blitzing your chores to wearing your entire wardrobe to the gym, Guardian Australia readers and experts tell us how they’re exercising when it’s cold, wet and miserable

A new start after 60: ‘I didn’t want to be an invisible old lady – so I became a yoga teacher’

After decades in hairdressing, 65-year-old Sharon McAllister was ready for a change rather than a rest. And her yoga classes are just the beginning

Three-quarters of UK adults can’t read a map – here’s how to get better

A study by Ordnance Survey to coincide with National Map Reading Week paints a sorry picture of our navigation skills. But there are ways to improve …

A new start after 60: ‘I risked my house to launch a chain of 24-hour gyms’

Bob Cheek was in his 60s and worrying about his future. Then he hit on a scheme that would make him millions

‘We didn’t feel it was for us’: the UK’s minority ethnic walking groups tearing down barriers

Hiking groups set up by and for ethnic minorities, often during lockdowns, are gaining in popularity

Here they come, the forlorn teens with backpacks. It’s Duke of Edinburgh season

The countryside is suddenly full of exhausted youngsters. Even my cheery sympathy can’t lift their spirits, writes Adrian Chiles

Move yourself happy! How to exercise to boost your mood – whatever your fitness level

There are plenty of workouts to improve your physical health – but what if you are exercising to improve your mental health? Experts offer their tips