Exercise

Nearly half of Dutch children exercise too little. As a result of this, their motor skills deteriorate and obesity is on the increase among children. Some of the factors contributing to this are digitalisation, urbanisation and too few safe play areas. With the programme MOOI in Beweging (mission driven research and innovation sports en exercise) we are looking for solutions to help children and their parents exercise skilfully from an early age.

Municipalities play an important role in improving their residents' health and reducing health inequalities between neighbourhoods. Researchers are developing useful knowledge for municipalities to create opportunities in neighbourhoods for improved health. There are a variety of ways that municipalities can realise this.

Municipalities are increasingly deploying local innovators, connectors and also residents to get people to exercise more. They often do that with living labs Sport and Exercise. We fund these labs together with Sportinnovator. These labs seek innovations and test these directly in practice as well. 

With the help of a preventative municipal policy, municipalities can encourage the use of recognised interventions and advance a broad learning approach in municipal prevention projects. For example, the Dutch regions IJsselland and the Achterhoek focus on physical exercise and being socially active because this contributes to health in the broadest sense. In their project, they literally and metaphorically mobilise vulnerable residents, such as the elderly. 

It is well-known that daily exercise and sport are good for health. That also applies to patients. It is important to be as fit as possible before and certainly after the treatment. However, exercise and sport are not yet an integral part of care and treatment. With MOOI in Beweging we are trying to change this.

A healthy lifestyle reduces the chances of diseases and chronic illnesses. We identify which knowledge about lifestyle is still needed and make funding available to investigate this. With this approach, we strengthen integral collaboration, enable researchers to develop knowledge and encourage professionals to implement that knowledge in practice.

Collaboration and an integral approach are particularly important when it comes to reducing obesity. It is a complex problem. Research provides new insights and knowledge to tackle obesity and to encourage a healthy lifestyle. This ranges from adopting long-term healthy behaviours to a healthy diet and exercise. 

Can municipalities encourage their residents to exercise more often and more actively by making specific changes to the physical environment? And if that is the case, then what health effects does this have? Research can reveal, for example, which interventions have been shown to work when it comes to encouraging exercise behaviour in the neighbourhood. 

The basic health insurance reimburses the combined lifestyle intervention. This combination of healthier eating, more exercise and individual coaching ensures behavioural changes and achieving a healthy lifestyle. The intervention is recognised by the RIVM Centre for Healthy Living. 

We strive to make the Netherlands a country where sport and exercise are accessible always and everywhere for everyone. And, of course, it is important that sport is also fun, safe and inclusive. We realise these goals by contributing to knowledge development and strengthening participation in sports activities and exercise. 

Innovative developments play a crucial role in making sport and exercise accessible, enjoyable and safer for each resident of the Netherlands. We are working on sport innovation together with innovators, entrepreneurs, municipalities, and sports organisations. Our primary goal is to ensure that every resident of the Netherlands can enjoy sport and exercise throughout their lives. We would like to share a number of projects supported by Sportinnovator that contribute to a more inclusive, accessible and safer sports climate. Read more about sport and active exercise: everyone at every level (in Dutch)