Compliance with physical activity recommendations by walking for exercise--Michigan, 1996 and 1998

Physical inactivity is an important modifiable risk factor for many diseases, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, and osteoporosis. The 1996 Surgeon General's report (1) recommended that persons of all ages obtain "a minimum of 30 minutes of physical activity of moderate intensity (e.g., brisk walking) on most, if not all, days of the week." Walking is encouraged as one of the most accessible ways to be physically active (2), is the most commonly reported leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) in the United States, and is relatively common among groups that are typically inactive (e.g., the elderly and low-income groups) (3). To determine whether exercise characteristics (i.e., duration, frequency, and speed of walking) of Michigan adults met the Surgeon General's recommendations, the Michigan Department of Community Health analyzed data from the 1996 and 1998 Michigan Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) for those who reported walking as their only LTPA. This report summarizes the results of this analysis, which indicate that most walkers need to increase the frequency and perhaps the speed of their walking to comply with recommendations.