Live Healthy!: Exercise and Fitness

• Only one in three children are physically active every day.¹
• Less than 5% of adults participate in 30 minutes of physical activity each day;² only one in three adults receive the recommended amount of physical activity each week.³
• Only 35 – 44% of adults 75 years or older are physically active, and 28-34% of adults ages 65-74 are physically active.⁴
• More than 80% of adults do not meet the guidelines for both aerobic and muscle-strengthening activities, and more than 80% of adolescents do not do enough aerobic physical activity to meet the guidelines for youth.⁵
• In 2013, research found adults in the following states to be most likely to report exercising 3 or more days a week for at least 30 minutes: Vermont (65.3%), Hawaii (62.2%), Montana (60.1%), Alaska (60.1%). The least likely were Delaware (46.5%), West Virginia (47.1%) and Alabama (47.5%). The national average for regular exercise is 51.6%.⁶
• Children now spend more than seven and a half hours a day in front of a screen (e.g., TV, videogames, computer).⁷
• Nationwide, 25.6% of persons with a disability reported being physically inactive during a usual week, compared to 12.8% of those without a disability.³
• Only about one in five homes have parks within a half-mile, and about the same number have a fitness or recreation center within that distance.⁵
• Only 6 states (Illinois, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New York and Vermont) require physical education in every grade, K-12.²²
• 28.0% of Americans, or 80.2 million people, aged six and older are physically inactive.²³
• Nearly one-third of high school students play video or computer games for 3 or more hours on an average school day.²⁴

¹ National Association for Sport and Physical Education.The Fitness Equation: Physical Activity + Balanced Diet = Fit Kids.Reston, VA: National Association for Sport and Physical Education, 1999.

² U.S. Department of Agriculture. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010. Available at: http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/dietaryguidelines.htm.

³ U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Healthy People 2010. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/healthy_people/hp2010.htm.

⁴ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/brfss/.

⁵ U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Healthy People 2020. Available at: http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/default.aspx.

⁶Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, Jan. 2-Dec. 29, 2013. Available at: http://www.gallup.com/poll/167645/vermont-no-frequent-exercise-produce-consumption.aspx .

⁷ Rideout, Victoria J., Foehr, Ulla G., and Roberts, Donald F. Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-Year-Olds. Rep. Menlo Park: Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, 2010.

²³ Physical Activity Council. 2014 Participation Report. Available at: http://www.physicalactivitycouncil.com/PDFs/current.pdf - PDF .

²⁴ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. [Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance—United States, 2011]. MMWR 2012;61(No. SS-66104):[1-168]). Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss6104a1.htm.

From: https://www.hhs.gov/fitness/resource-center/facts-and-statistics/index.html#