Please note: This website has recently moved from www.health.gov to odphp.health.gov. www.health.gov is now the official website of ODPHP’s parent organization, the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH). Please update your bookmarks for easy access to all our resources. 

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

Physical Activity

Goal: Improve health, fitness, and quality of life through regular physical activity.

Three women, two of them holding small weights, walk briskly in a park.

Only 1 in 4 adults and 1 in 5 adolescents in the United States meet physical activity guidelines for aerobic and muscle-strengthening activities.1,2 Healthy People 2030 focuses on improving health and well-being by helping people of all ages get enough aerobic and muscle-strengthening activity.

Physical activity can help prevent disease, disability, injury, and premature death. The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans lays out how much physical activity children, adolescents, and adults need to get health benefits. Although most people don’t get the recommended amount of physical activity, it can be especially hard for older adults and people with chronic diseases or disabilities.

Strategies that make it safer and easier to get active — like providing access to community facilities and programs — can help people get more physical activity. Strategies to promote physical activity at home, at school, and at child care centers can also increase activity in children and adolescents.

Objective Status

  • 0 Target met or exceeded
  • 1 Improving
  • 11 Little or no detectable change
  • 8 Getting worse
  • 3 Baseline only
  • 1 Developmental
  • 3 Research

Learn more about objective types

Related Objectives

The following is a sample of objectives related to this topic. Some objectives may include population data.

Physical Activity — General

Increase the proportion of child care centers where children aged 3 to 5 years do at least 60 minutes of physical activity a day — PA‑R01
Research
Reduce the proportion of adults who do no physical activity in their free time — PA‑01
Little or no detectable change
Increase the proportion of adults who do enough aerobic physical activity for substantial health benefits — PA‑02
Little or no detectable change
Increase the proportion of adults who do enough aerobic physical activity for extensive health benefits — PA‑03
Little or no detectable change
Increase the proportion of adults who do enough muscle-strengthening activity — PA‑04
Little or no detectable change
Increase the proportion of adults who do enough aerobic and muscle-strengthening activity — PA‑05
LHI label
Little or no detectable change
Increase the proportion of adults who walk or bike to get places — PA‑10
Little or no detectable change

Adolescents

Increase the proportion of adolescents who do enough aerobic physical activity — PA‑06
Getting worse
Increase the proportion of adolescents who do enough muscle-strengthening activity — PA‑07
Getting worse
Increase the proportion of adolescents who do enough aerobic and muscle-strengthening activity — PA‑08
Getting worse

Arthritis

Reduce the proportion of adults with arthritis whose arthritis limits their activities — A‑02
Little or no detectable change
Increase the proportion of adults with arthritis who get counseling for physical activity — A‑04
Little or no detectable change

Cancer

Increase quality of life for cancer survivors — C‑R01
Research

Child and Adolescent Development

Increase the proportion of children who do enough aerobic physical activity — PA‑09
Getting worse
Increase the proportion of children and adolescents who play sports — PA‑12
Getting worse
Increase the proportion of children aged 2 to 5 years who get no more than 1 hour of screen time a day — PA‑13
Getting worse
Increase the proportion of adolescents who walk or bike to get places — PA‑11
Baseline only
Increase the proportion of parents who follow AAP recommendations on limiting screen time for children aged 6 to 17 years — PA‑R02
Research

Heart Disease and Stroke

Reduce cholesterol in adults — HDS‑06
Improving
Improve cardiovascular health in adults — HDS‑01
Little or no detectable change
Reduce the proportion of adults with high blood pressure — HDS‑04
Baseline only

Older Adults

Increase the proportion of older adults with physical or cognitive health problems who get physical activity — OA‑01
Baseline only

Overweight and Obesity

Reduce the proportion of children and adolescents with obesity — NWS‑04
LHI label
Little or no detectable change
Increase the proportion of health care visits by adults with obesity that include counseling on weight loss, nutrition, or physical activity — NWS‑05
Little or no detectable change
Reduce the proportion of adults with obesity — NWS‑03
Getting worse

Schools

Increase the proportion of adolescents who participate in daily school physical education — ECBP‑01
Getting worse

Workplace

Increase the proportion of worksites that offer an employee physical activity program — ECBP‑D04
Developmental

Other topics you may be interested in

References

1.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2018) Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, 2nd Edition. Retrieved from https://odphp.health.gov/paguidelines/second-edition/pdf/Physical_Activity_Guidelines_2nd_edition.pdf [PDF - 15.2 MB]

2.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d.) Trends in Meeting the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines, 2008­–2018. https://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/downloads/trends-in-the-prevalence-of-physical-activity-508.pdf [PDF - 253 KB]