The Role of Recreation in American Society - Recreation For Health

Americans are living longer and are generally healthier. More people are able physically and, increasingly, financially to participate in recreational activities. Older adults are a growing market in the sales of many consumer items, including recreational vehicles, sporting goods, books, and computers.

Active Recreation Prevents Disease

Lack of physical exercise not only contributes to the risk of heart disease but also increases the risk of colon cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, and arthritis. Regular physical activity is also linked to improved mental health by reducing mild anxiety and depression. Health professionals agree that even moderate amounts of exercise, such as walking thirty minutes a day, five times a week, as opposed to strenuous physical activity, such as running, provides substantial health benefits. Despite unassailable evidence demonstrating its potent disease prevention and health promotion benefits, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that more than 50% of American adults do not exercise enough to reap health benefits and 25% do not exercise at all during their leisure time.

Physical activity was the first leading health indicator of Healthy People, 2010, the source document that served as a blueprint for improving the health status of Americans. Administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services through its Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Healthy People, 2010 defined regular leisure-time physical activity as performing light to

FIGURE 8.2

moderate physical activity for thirty or more minutes, five or more times per week, or vigorous physical activity for twenty or more minutes, three or more times per week. The National Health Interview Survey, conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics, used this definition to track Americans' leisure-time physical activity. The survey data showed a slow, steady increase in the percentage of adults ages eighteen and older who engaged in regular leisure-time physical activity, from 29.9% in 1998 to 33% in 2003. The number of adults who engaged in regular leisure-time physical activity declined with advancing age, however, and women in every age group reported less physical activity. (See Figure 8.2.) Regular leisure-time physical activity was highest among whites (35.9%), followed by African-Americans (25.9%) and Hispanics (24.6%).

THE PRESIDENT MAKES PHYSICAL FITNESS A TOP PRIORITY. Concern about Americans' lack of physical activity prompted President George W. Bush to announce a federal effort to improve fitness levels among adults and children on June 20, 2002. In a campaign that recalled the one launched by President John F. Kennedy four decades earlier, President Bush appointed a presidential council and issued an executive order along with twelve pages of recommendations about how Americans could improve their health and fitness. The president urged Americans to follow his example of running three miles a day and lifting weights to stay fit. A Web site (www.presidentschallenge.org) was also set up to offer fitness tips and help Americans track their progress online. President Bush subsequently declared May 2004 to be National Physical Fitness and Sports Month.