Physical Wellbeing
Overall good physical health and wellbeing is critical to avoiding a range of preventable diseases. Our physical health and wellbeing is often closely connected to our mental and emotional health, and healthier, happier individuals leads to greater overall community wellbeing.
This profile compares data from Wyndham to areas across Greater Melbourne and Victoria on determinants of physical health, including self-reported health, physical activity levels, and prevalence of diabetes and obesity.
Recent data on physical health and activity shows Wyndham adults are not faring as well as adults in the North and West Metropolitan area and Victoria. These findings are based on measures of time spent exercising, rates of obesity and diabetes, and participation in physical activity, and self-reported health levels.
All data refers to adults aged 18+ years unless otherwise stated.
The Victorian Population Health Survey asks Victorian adults to rank their current health status as excellent, very good, good, fair or poor.
Self-reported health, Wyndham, Western Melbourne and Victoria, 20201
Physical Activity Status
Regular physical activity is important for good overall health. It is a protective factor against chronic disease, and assists in maintaining healthy weight. As shown in the graph below, a larger proportion of Wyndham adults (55.6%) do not engage in the recommended amount of physical activity each week, compared to adults in the Western region (46.6%) and Victoria (44.1%).
Physical activity status, Wyndham, Western Melbourne and Victoria, 20172
Types of Physical Activity3
More Wyndham adults take part in non-organised physical activity (walking, jogging or running and gym or fitness) than organised physical activity (organised by a fitness, leisure or indoor sports activity or sport club or association). The most popular physical activity type amongst Wyndham adults is walking, however a smaller proportion of Wyndham adults walk compared to adults across Victoria. Overall, proportionally fewer Wyndham adults participate in either an organised or non-organised sporting activity than all Victorian adults.
Organised Physical Activity
Organised physical activity, Wyndham and Victoria 2015
Non-Organised Physical Activity
Non-organised physical activity, Wyndham and Victoria 2015
As shown in the graph below, more than a fifth (22.4%) of Wyndham adults spent more than eight hours per day sitting in 2017, which is similar to adults in the Western Melbourne area (23.1%) and Victoria (22%). Compared to adults in Western Melbourne and Victoria, a larger proportion of Wyndham adults sit for less than 2 hours a day.
In 2015, Wyndham adults who work 35 hours plus a week sit for less time (4.09 hours) than Victorians (4.29 hours). Research shows that sedentary behaviour such as sitting for long periods during waking hours is not good for your health.
Sedentary behaviour, Wyndham, Western Melbourne and Victoria, 20174
As shown in the graph below, during an average week more than half of Wyndham adults (60.9%) do not use walking as a mode of transport for trips longer than 10 minutes. This is higher than Melbourne’s North and West Metropolitan areas (53.4%) and Victoria as a whole (57.4%). The fact that Wyndham has less active travel by means of walking may be relative to Wyndham’s growth and the distance to shopping, medical and public transport.
Adults in the North and West Metropolitan area and Victoria are more likely to regularly use walking as a mode of transport four or more days per week, compared to Wyndham adults.
Active travel, Wyndham 20145
Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes, which occurs mostly in people aged 50 years and over. Risk factors for the disease include being overweight or obese and having a family history of the condition.
As shown in the graph below, there has been a steady increase in the proportion of adults being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in Victoria. In 2008 and 2011-12, the percentage of Wyndham adults with type 2 diabetes was less than adults in Victoria. By 2014, the opposite trend was observed, where a larger proportion of Wyndham adults had type 2 diabetes (6.2%) compared to adults in Victoria (6.0%).
Between 2014 and 2017 the rate of type 2 diabetes has increased in Wyndham from 6.2% to 7.1%. Over the same period, the Victorian average has declined slightly from 6% to 5.5%.
Type 2 diabetes, Wyndham, North and West Metropolitan Melbourne and Victoria 2008 to 20176
Obesity is a condition where a person has accumulated excess body fat which may have a negative impact on their health. Excess body fat can be a catlyst to other more serious chronic conditions such as heart disease which kills more people than any other disease.
The current data indicates that Wyndham has more obese people (23.4%) than both Western Melbourne (17.7%) and Victoria (20.9%)
Obesity, Wyndham, Western Melbourne and Victoria, 20207
