Almost half of Irish families spend less than one hour per week engaged in physical exercise together, a new survey has shown.

In fact, families are more like to to be found shopping than walking or visiting the park together.

The survey of 935 adults revealed that 41% of families spend less than 60 minutes per week engaged in physical activity together.

The most popular family activity was found to be shopping (59%), followed by walking/hiking (56%) and visits to the park (54%).

While at least half of adults exercise three to five times per week on their own, one in three adults with children never take part in any physical activities with their family.

The survey was carried out to mark Aviva Health's sponsorship of RTE One's programme, Ireland's Fittest Family.

"Research shows that children whose parents are physically active are more likely to be active themselves, so parents play a critical role in shaping a child's interest and involvement in physical activity," commented Dr Ian Callanan, medical director at Aviva Health.

He noted that despite many people engaging in low levels of physical activities, the majority of respondants rated themselves as relatively fit, ‘suggesting that many families are in denial about their physical fitness levels'.

According to the National Guidelines on Physical Activity for Ireland - Get Ireland Active - adults over the age of 18 need at least 30 minutes a day of moderate activity, five days a week. Children and teenagers aged between two and 18 need at least 60 minutes a day of moderate to vigorous activity.

When asked about their participation in medium to high impact activities that are known to improve heart health, swimming proved the most popular at 37%, followed by cycling (25%), GAA (17%), football (15%) and running (14%).

The survey was carried out last month by Empathy Research.