Physical_Activity_Guidelines

• Transportation, Land Use, and Community Design. This sector plays a lead role in designing and
implementing options that provide areas for safe walking, bicycling, and wheelchair walking. Public
transit systems also promote walking, as people typically walk to and from transit stops. Community
planners and designers can implement design principles to create communities with activity-friendly
routes to everyday destinations for people of all ages and abilities. They can also help create or
improve access to places for physical activity, such as parks and other green spaces.
Taking Action
Improving the physical activity levels of Americans will not be a small task. Many partners are already involved,
but more engagement is needed to increase the reach, breadth, and impact of these efforts. Realizing a
shared vision of a more physically active and healthy America will require the dedication, ingenuity, skill, and
commitment from many partners working across many different sectors. Being physically active is one of the
best investments individuals and communities can make in their health and welfare. Now is the time to take
action and help more Americans attain the numerous benefits of physical activity.
Getting and Staying Active: Real-Life
Examples
Jim: A 75-Year-Old Man Who Uses a Pedometer
to Track His Increasing Activity
Establishing baseline: Jim does not yet meet the key guidelines, but
he wants to increase his physical activity so he can continue to live
independently in his own home. Jim spends 45 minutes each week taking
care of his yard and garden. He also spends about 55 minutes cleaning
the inside of his house, including vacuuming, cleaning bathrooms, and
washing the floors. He is participating in 100 minutes of moderateintensity
physical activity each week.
Setting goals: Jim wants to add at least 60 additional minutes of moderate-intensity walking to each week. He
purchases an inexpensive step counter to help set his physical activity goal and monitor his progress. Before
starting to incorporate any extra walking, Jim wears his new step counter for one day and finds he gets 5,100
steps. He then wears his step counter on a 10-minute, moderate-intensity walk around his neighborhood and
notes that this adds about 1,000 steps. Based on his initial activity, Jim sets a goal of adding 10 minutes of
walking each day, which would add 6,000 extra steps a week with 60 minutes of moderate-intensity walking.
Reaching his goal: To reach his goal, Jim uses strategies like parking at the back of the parking lot when
he goes shopping, walking to a nearby convenience store to pick up ingredients for dinner, or walking to a
neighbor’s house. Over time, he builds up to the equivalent of 160 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic
activity each week.
Chapter 8. Taking Action: Increasing Physical Activity Levels of Americans 101