Table 1.

Health-Related Benefits of Physical Activity.

Health Outcome	Evidence of Inverse Dose–Response Relationship	Effect Size	Strength of Evidence*
All-cause mortality	Yes	30% risk reduction	Strong
Cardiorespiratory health	Yes	20%–35% lower risk of cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease, and stroke	Strong
	_______	Lower risk of high blood pressure Aerobic activity decreases blood pressure by 6.9/4.9 mmHg	Strong
	Yes	Increased cardiorespiratory and muscular fitness	Strong
Metabolic health	Yes	30%–40% lower risk of metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes in at least moderately active people compared to those who are sedentary	Moderate to strong
	_______	Healthier body mass and composition	Strong
Energy balance	Yes	Weight loss	Strong
	Yes	Weight maintenance following weight loss	Moderate
	Yes	Abdominal obesity	Moderate
Musculoskeletal health	Yes	Bone: Reduced risk of hip fracture is 36%–68% at the highest level of physical activity. The magnitude of the effect of physical activity on bone mineral density is 1% to 2%	Moderate (weak for vertebral fracture)
	Yes	Muscular: Increases in exercise training enhance skeletal muscle mass, strength, power, and intrinsic neuromuscular activation	Strong
Functional health	Yes	Approximately 30% risk reduction in terms of the prevention or delay in function and/or role limitations with physical activity	Moderate to strong
		Older adults who participate in regular physical activity have an approximately 30% lower risk of falls	Strong
	_______	Improved cognitive function	Strong
Cancer	Yes	30% lower risk of colon cancer and approximately 20% lower risk of breast cancer for adults participating in daily physical activity	Strong
	______	Lower risk of lung cancer and endometrial cancer	Moderate
Mental health	Yes	There is an approximately 20%–30% lower risk of depression and dementia for adults participating in daily physical activity	Strong
	Yes	There is an approximately 20%–30% lower risk of distress for adults participating in daily physical activity	Weak
	_______	Improved sleep quality	Moderate

Adapted from [9–12].

^*Strong: strong, consistent across studies and populations. Moderate: moderate or reasonable, reasonably consistent. Weak: weak or limited, inconsistent across studies and populations.

Evidence presented here is the result of clinical intervention as well as large-scale, population-based, observational studies. Evidence was summarized from ACSM-AHA recommendations for physical activity and the Physical Activity Guideline Advisory Committee.

Note: The Advisory Committee rated the evidence of health benefits of physical activity as strong, moderate, or weak. To do so, the Committee considered the type, number, and quality of studies available, as well as the consistency of findings across studies that addressed each outcome. The Committee also considered evidence for causality and dose-response when assigning the strength-of-evidence rating.