The 2012 Olympics will be used to help thousands of Londoners become more fit and healthy, according to NHS chiefs.

They have published plans to use the Olympic effect to get residents off their sofas and exercising regularly.

More than 3.5 million adults, almost half the capital's adult population, fail to undertake the recommended 30 minutes of physical activity at least five days a week.

Illness caused by lack of exercise costs the NHS an estimated £105 million a year.

But a report from NHS London, the capital's health authority, warns that simply holding the games in the city is not enough to encourage residents to exercise more.

It has set a target of persuading 150,000 people who currently do no exercise at all to take part in regular physical activity by 2012, and to ensure 30,000 more people are undertaking the recommended weekly minimum.

Proposals include working with local councils and community organisations to help them organise public events, such as sports, as part of an Olympic festival tying into the games.

NHS London also hopes to encourage employers to help staff get fit, for example by ensuring they are allowed out of the workplace during lunch hours to take a walk.

Some publicity material will be targeted specifically at sections of the community who are statistically less likely to exercise, such as older people and people with disabilities.

Dr Simon Tanner, Regional Director of Public Health for London and Health Advisor to the Mayor said: "Now is the time for this generation of Londoners to prove its innovation and capability to create a legacy from the 2012 Games.

"This is the best opportunity we may have for decades to put regular physical activity for ordinary people, including the most inactive, on the starting blocks. The Games could be the much needed catalyst for a health legacy for all of us - the first the world has seen - but only if we work together to make it happen."

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