What are exercise and physical activity?
Physical activity is a general term used to describe movements of the skeleton and skeletal muscles that expend energy. Physical activity can include:
- Traditional exercise, such as walking, running, biking, and doing aerobics
- Participation in team sports and activities, such as football, hockey, or soccer
- Other tasks that keep your body moving and your heart rate up, such as climbing the stairs, carrying groceries, and sweeping the floor
Exercise is a term that describes activities that have or improve the following features: aerobic capacity (your oxygen intake), muscle strength, endurance, flexibility, and body composition (such as your body mass index).
For some more ideas of physical activities and exercises, check out the list included in the President's Challenge, a program of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.
What is the importance of physical activity?
Getting enough physical activity, especially when combined with eating a healthy diet, can help to reduce the risk of certain diseases, such as heart disease, certain types of cancers, diabetes, and osteoporosis.
Daily physical activity can also help to lower blood pressure and cholesterol and helps to reduce obesity, symptoms of anxiety and depression, and symptoms of arthritis.
According to Dietary Guidelines for Americans, published every five years by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture:
- Adults 18 and older need 30 minutes of physical activity on five or more days a week to be healthy.
- Children and teens need 60 minutes of activity a day for their health.
How does physical activity help maintain a healthy weight?
As mentioned in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, an important part of good nutrition is creating a balance between the food you eat (ENERGY IN) and physical activity (ENERGY OUT).
- For ENERGY IN, choose foods that will help you and your family maintain a healthy weight and provide the nutrients they need while keeping their calories under control.
- For ENERGY OUT, adults 18 and older need 30 minutes of physical activity on five or more days a week to be healthy; children and teens need 60 minutes of activity a day for their health.
Combine healthy eating with a balance between food and physical activity to improve your overall health.
How does physical activity help build healthy bones?
Physical activity is also an important way to build strong bones that will stay healthy for your entire life. Just like exercising your muscles can make them grow bigger, exercising your bones makes them grow big and strong.
The best type of physical activity for building strong bones is weight-bearing physical activity. Weight-bearing activities are those that keep you active and on your feet so that your legs carry your body weight.
For more information on weight-bearing physical activity and bone health, visit Increasing physical activity for better bone health, on the Milk Matters Web site.
What are some programs to help people learn about physical activity and health?
The NICHD and other federal agencies work to help people improve their health through diet, nutrition, and a healthy lifestyle. The NICHD is involved in health education programs that can help people learn about diet and nutrition.
- Media-Smart Youth: Eat, Think, and Be Active! is an interactive after-school education program for young people ages 11 to 13. It is designed to help teach them about the complex media world around them, and how it can affect their health—especially in the areas of nutrition and physical activity.
Media-Smart Youth is not a weight loss program, but rather is a health promotion program. It helps young people become critical, creative thinkers to help them make smart and positive choices about nutrition and physical activity.
- Milk Matters is an information campaign that educates families about the importance of getting enough calcium, especially for tweens and teens ages 11 to 15, a time of critical bone growth. [link to pop-up definition: Tweens are kids ages 9-12]
Although the consequences of low calcium consumption may not be visible in childhood, the NICHD recognizes lack of calcium intake as a serious and growing threat to the health of young people later in life.
- WE CAN! (Ways to Enhance Children’s Activity and Nutrition) is a national education program to help prevent overweight and obesity among youth ages 8 to 13. WE CAN! offers parents and families tips and fun activities to encourage healthy eating, increase physical activity, and reduce sedentary or screen time. It also offers community groups and health professionals exciting resources to implement programs and fun activities for parents and youth in communities around the country.
The program is a collaboration of four Institutes of the NIH, including the NICHD, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), and the National Cancer Institute (NCI).
Where can I get more information about exercise and physical activity?
