Government Report on Physical Activity

Recently, the U.S Department of Health and Human Services released a report called the “Phyiscal Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee Report, 2008″–a very long name for a very long report. We are still poring through the contents, but we wanted to give you the scoop on some of the major highlights.

One of the department’s goals was to summarize the prominent scientific research and recommendations with regards to physical activity. Here is a summary of key points:

• For adults, the study recommends 30 to 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity each day on at least 5 days per week. Also, muscle strengthening exercises are recommended at least twice per week.
• For children, the recommendation is to do 60 or more minutes of moderate to vigorous activity each day.
• “Adults of all shapes and sizes gain health and fitness benefits by being habitually physically active,” including overweight or obese individuals (we have talked about this previously).

The report also had some basic rules of thumb when it comes to physical activity, frequency and injuries:

• Some physical activity is better than none (as little as 1 hour of moderate activity per week).
• More physical activity is better than some (2 1/2 hours of moderate to vigorous activity per week).
• Vigorous activity is better than moderate activity.
• Injuries usually occur when people are more active than usual. So ease into increasing intensity and frequency of activity.

We all know that physical activity is good for us and many of these guidelines are very well known. But it is good to read exactly how strongly the scientific community verifies that belief and how diverse the benefits are. For introPLAY Players, it just means, keep training, keep being active and keep recording your workouts.

A PDF copy of the report can be downloaded here.

About these ads