Most adults get some exercise during the day: study

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Many adults may be meeting experts' recommendations on exercise if all types of activity, from work and play, are counted, a study of Swedish adults hints.

Researchers found that among 1,470 adults ages 18 to 74, nearly two-thirds were meeting the goal of getting at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity on most days of the week.

That was with all types of physical activity measured, including physical labor at work, household chores and leisure-time exercise.

Past studies, in contrast, have often looked at a more limited definition of physical activity, such as recreational exercise alone, when gauging adults' overall activity levels.

But it is not only dedicated exercise -- like jogging or working out at the gym -- that is linked to better health, according to Patrick Bergman of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, the lead researcher on the current study.

Therefore, he told Reuters Health, studies need to take a broader look at people's activity levels. One person, he noted, may not be active during his free time but do heavy manual labor at work, while another may have a sedentary job but jog for exercise.

"In the long run, they could very well do an equal amount of physical activity," Bergman pointed out.

For their study, published in the journal BMC Public Health, Bergman and his colleagues asked respondents how often, and for how long, they typically walked or engaged in moderate or vigorous exercise -- whether at work, on the way to work, at home or during their leisure time.

Overall, the researchers found, 63 percent of the study participants were meeting recommended exercise goals.

Not all groups were equal, however. Adults younger than 35 were more likely than their older counterparts to be highly active and men were generally more active than women. Obese adults, meanwhile, tended to be underactive, with 59 percent falling into the least-active category.

Interestingly, Bergman noted, adults with relatively less education were more likely to be highly active than those with a college degree. That is contrast to past studies showing that more-educated people are more likely to exercise in their free time.

The finding could be related to the fact that this study measured not only leisure-time exercise, but physical activity at work as well, according to Bergman.

While a majority of the study participants were active, the low activity levels in some groups, including obese adults, show there is still room for improvement, Bergman and his colleagues write.

Getting more people off the couch, they say, will take broad "social-ecological approaches" -- which, according to Bergman, essentially means making it easier for people to be active in their daily lives.

That could include making it simpler for people to walk or bike -- by building more sidewalks, for instance -- or giving them more parks and recreational areas.

SOURCE: BMC Public Health, online October 22, 2008.