Public Health and Environment

Physical Activity and Fitness

Health Benefits of Regular Physical Activity

Regular physical activity for 30 minutes, of at least moderate intensity and practiced on five or more days of the week, reduces the risk of developing coronary heart disease, hypertension, colon cancer and diabetes-some of the leading causes of illness and death in the United States (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 1996). Regular physical activity can improve health and reduce the risk of premature death in the following ways:

Reduce the risk of dying from coronary heart disease.
Reduces the risk of having a second heart attack in people who have already experienced one heart attack.
Lowers both total blood cholesterol and triglycerides and may increase high-density lipoproteins (HDL or the "good" cholesterol).
Lowers the risk of developing high blood pressure.
Helps reduce blood pressure in people who already have hypertension
Lowers the risk of developing non-insulin-dependent (Type II) diabetes mellitus.
Reduces the risk of developing colon cancer.
Helps people achieve and maintain a healthy body weight.
Reduces feelings of depression and anxiety.
Promotes psychological well-being and reduces feelings of stress.
Helps build and maintain healthy bones, muscles and joints.
Helps older adults become stronger and better able to move without falling or becoming excessively fatigued.

Terms to Guide You

Physical Activity: Any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that results in the use of energy. Includes a broad range of occupational, leisure and routine daily activities.
Physical Fitness: A measure of a person's ability to perform physical activities that requires endurance, strength or flexibility and is determined by a combination of regular activity and personal inherited ability.
Exercise: A physical activity that is planned or structured. Usually involves repetitive movement done to improve or maintain one or more of the components of physical fitness-endurance, strength or flexibility.
"Regular" Physical Activity: A pattern of physical activity is regular when performed:
- most days of the week, preferably daily;
- five or more days of the week if moderate-intensity activities; or
- three or more days of the week if vigorous-intensity activities.
Light-intensity Physical Activity: The level of effort used by an individual while using a riding lawnmower, fishing while seated in a boat or standing on shore, ping pong, golfing at a driving range or using a powered golf cart as examples.
Moderate-Intensity Physical Activity: The effort a healthy individual might use while walking briskly, mowing the lawn, dancing, swimming or bicycling on level terrain as examples.
Vigorous-Intensity Physical Activity: The effort a healthy individual might use while jogging, mowing the lawn with a nonmotorized push mower, chopping wood, swimming continuous laps or bicycling uphill as examples.

When is a Medical Evaluation Necessary?

Before engaging in physical activity or exercise it may be necessary to consult with a physician. The following situations are guides.

If the person has been leading an inactive lifestyle.
If the individual uses tobacco.
A current diagnosis of heart disease.
Having two or more of the following risk factors for heart disease:

High blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, family history of heart disease, diabetes, obesity.

Men older than 40 years of age.
Women older than 50 years of age.

Source: Promoting Physical Activity: a guide for community action. U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity. 1999