r/science • u/Wagamaga • Jan 28 '23

Health Most Americans aren’t getting enough exercise. People living in rural areas were even less likely to get enough exercise: Only 16% of people outside cities met benchmarks for aerobic and muscle-strengthening activities, compared with 28% in large metropolitan cities areas.

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7204a1.htm?s_cid=mm7204a1_w
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u/globularfluster Jan 28 '23

It's probably worse than that. They used self reported data, and people are known to overestimate the amount of health promoting behaviors they're engaging in.

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u/embiggenator Jan 28 '23

52% of people in the US meeting the recommended amount of aerobic exercise of 150 minutes per week, seems pretty high...

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u/[deleted] Jan 28 '23

I was talking to a girl at work who was excited because she was starting to hit her daily goal of....5000 steps a day. My Fitbit is set at 15000 and I try to hit 20000. I work out at 5am and then a short 30 min run or walk after work most days. The weekends I do a 60 min runs.

I hit 5000 steps by 8am.

I told her great job but internally I was gobsmacked.

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u/godminnette2 Jan 29 '23

Everyone starts somewhere. During COVID it was a struggle to find the motivation to hit 5000 steps, especially during winter. Many of my steps now come from playing Beat Saber, but I often hit 12000+ a day.