Prevention - Exercise Trends

The U.S. government has been promoting the benefits of physical activity since the 1950s, when it emphasized team sports. Cardiovascular fitness was the emphasis in the 1970s: We took up jogging. In the 1980s, new studies showed the health benefits of moderate-intensity activities: We took up aerobic dancing. Exercise machines took off in the 1990s: We joined health clubs. Well, some of us did.

The graphic shows the percentage of people who met a specified activity level in the prior month, by various characteristics.¹⁷ Only 25.3% of respondents met the recommended activity level. The CDC currently recommends at least 30 minutes of moderate activity on most days of the week. The graphic also shows that those most likely to meet the recommendations are white, college-educated, high-income males.

The table on the next page shows the activity breakdown by gender and age. Male senior citizens were more likely to meet recommended levels than men in the other age groups, while about one-quarter of women in every age group were active. Large percentages of all people did not meet the recommended activity level or reported no physical activity whatsoever.

Met activity level

The CDC findings are summarized in a 300-page tome, Physical Activity and Health. Its main point: "People of all ages can improve the quality of their lives through a lifelong practice of moderate physical activity."

Why aren't we exercising? Researchers reported in American Attitudes Toward Physical Activity & Fitness that our number-one excuse is lack of time. This was mentioned far more often than any other factor.

How do we reconcile this inactivity and the obesity figures from the previous panel with the growth in health clubs?¹⁸ In Bowling Alone, Robert D. Putnam tells us that the rise in the number of health clubs has been offset by a decline in jogging and exercise classes. Walking more than a mile is more popular than all other forms of exercise combined, he notes, but golf ranks highly, too, due to the fitness boom among older Americans.

The CDC says that lack of activity contributes to an estimated 300,000 preventable deaths each year. But Americans are an optimistic people. An MSNBC poll shows that 13% of respondents think exercise is "just a passing fad." Fourteen percent are waiting for "a magic pill" that brings weight loss without the sweat.¹⁹ Education is key, concluded researchers; without it, many people do not make the connection between exercise and good health.

We move now to another vital preventive — immunizations.

Percentage of Men and Women Engaging in Leisure-Time Physical Activity, by Age: 1998

Source: Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2001, Table 198. Physical Activity and Health: http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/ American Attitudes Toward Physical Activity & Fitness. Council on Physical Fitness & Sports and Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association: http://www.fitness.gov/american. Robert D Putnam, Bowling Alone, Simon & Schuster, 2000. MSNBC survey of 1,200 adult Americans: http://www.msnbc.com/news/569883.asp