Survey Finds Most Adults at Least 45 are Physically Active
A new AARP Bulletin nationwide survey assessing the level of physical activity among adults age 45 and older found that most adults age 45 and older say they are currently physically active and that walking is the most common activity.
Research Highlights from the survey are listed below:
- Just over seven in 10 adults age 45+ (71%) say they are currently physically active.
- Fewer than one in 10 adults age 45+ (9%) say they plan to start engaging in regular physical activity in the next month (5%) or the next six months (4%).
- Roughly one in five adults age 45+ (19%) say they do not currently engage in regular physical activity and do not have plans to start doing so.
- Walking is the most popular form of exercise among adults age 45+ who are physically active on a regular basis. In fact, half (50%) say their favorite type of exercise is walking, as opposed to bicycling (6%), using an elliptical machine, stair climber, or treadmill (5%), weight lifting or weight training (3%), gardening (3%), doing work or manual labor (3%), and team sports (3%).
- Over half (53%) of adults age 45+ who said they are physically active on a regular basis accumulate four hours or more a week of physical activity.
- The majority of adults age 45+ (61%) report that their current level of physical activity was less than it was 5 years ago.