Table 6.

Current Level of Aerobic Physical Activity Among US Youth (Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, 2009)^a and Adults (National Health Interview Survey, 2008)^b

High school studentsa		Boys			Girls
	% Active	% Insufficiently Active	% Inactive	% Active	% Insufficiently Active	% Inactive
All high school students	25	58	17	11	59	30
By school grade
9	28	55	17	14	59	27
10	25	59	16	13	57	30
11	23	61	16	10	60	30
12	22	59	19	9	58	33
By racial and ethnic group
Non-Hispanic white	26	58	16	12	63	25
Non-Hispanic black	24	55	21	10	46	44
Hispanic	21	62	17	11	58	31
Adults (aged ≥18 years)b		Men			Women
	% Active	% Insufficiently Active	% Inactive	% Active	% Insufficiently Active	% Inactive
All adults	47	19	34	40	22	38
By age, years
18–24	59	17	24	46	20	34
25–34	52	18	30	48	21	31
35–44	48	19	32	43	23	34
45–64	45	18	37	39	24	38
≥65	37	19	44	26	19	56
By racial and ethnic group
Non-Hispanic white	52	18	31	44	22	34
Non-Hispanic black	42	17	42	28	20	52
Hispanic	35	19	46	32	19	49
By education
College graduate	62	20	18	56	23	22
Some college	51	22	28	42	24	35
High school graduate	39	16	45	32	21	47
Less than high school	28	17	55	23	16	60

^aAmong youth, categories of physical activity were defined as doing any kind of physical activity that increased their heart rate and made them breathe hard some of the time for a total of at least 60 minutes daily on 7 days (active), 1 to 6 days (insufficiently active), or 0 days (inactive) during the 7 days before the survey. Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance—United States, 2009.³¹

^bAmong adults, active (during leisure time) was defined as at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity, at least 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity, or an equivalent combination of moderate-intensity and vigorous-intensity physical activity per week; insufficiently active was defined as some aerobic activity but not enough to meet the active definition; inactive was defined as no moderate-intensity or vigorous-intensity aerobic activity for at least 10 minutes at a time. Adapted from: Carlson SA, Fulton JE, Schoenborn SA, Loustalot F. Trend and prevalence estimates based on the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. Am J Prev Med. 2010;39(4):305–313.³³ Additional estimates provided by authors.