No Leisure-Time Physical Activity (%)
Research shows that moderate physical activity can substantially reduce the risk of developing or dying from heart disease, diabetes, colon cancer, and high blood pressure, and may also protect against lower back pain (a leading cause of acquired disability) and some forms of cancer (for example, breast cancer).1 The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends that adults engage in 30 or more minutes of physical activity at least five days a week.2
What percentage of women have not engaged in any leisure-time physical activity in the past month?
The Report Card benchmark is the Healthy People 2010 goal of reducing to no more than 20 percent the proportion of people who engage in no leisure-time physical activity (when applied to women) [Healthy People 2010 Objective 22-1].
| State | State Overall Data | State Grade | State Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 35.2 | F | 49 |
| Alaska | 23.1 | S- | 14 |
| Arizona | 20.5 | S- | 5 |
| Arkansas | 33.3 | F | 47 |
| California | 23.5 | S- | 18 |
| Colorado | 18.7 | S | 2 |
| Connecticut | 23.3 | S- | 17 |
| Delaware | 23.6 | S- | 20 |
| District of Columbia | 23.2 | S- | 15 |
| Florida | 26.9 | U | 30 |
| Georgia | 27.1 | U | 31 |
| Hawaii | 23.2 | S- | 15 |
| Idaho | 20.7 | S- | 7 |
| Illinois | 25.3 | U | 24 |
| Indiana | 30.5 | F | 42 |
| Iowa | 23.5 | S- | 18 |
| Kansas | 24.9 | U | 23 |
| Kentucky | 31.7 | F | 45 |
| Louisiana | 31.3 | F | 44 |
| Maine | 21.0 | S- | 8 |
| Maryland | 26.3 | U | 28 |
| Massachusetts | 22.8 | S- | 12 |
| Michigan | 25.6 | U | 25 |
| Minnesota | 16.4 | S | 1 |
| Mississippi | 36.6 | F | 50 |
| Missouri | 28.9 | F | 36 |
| Montana | 22.6 | S- | 10 |
| Nebraska | 26.3 | U | 28 |
| Nevada | 28.4 | F | 34 |
| New Hampshire | 22.7 | S- | 11 |
| New Jersey | 30.1 | F | 41 |
| New Mexico | 25.6 | U | 25 |
| New York | 29.7 | F | 39 |
| North Carolina | 29.6 | F | 38 |
| North Dakota | 27.2 | U | 32 |
| Ohio | 28.8 | F | 35 |
| Oklahoma | 33.9 | F | 48 |
| Oregon | 19.2 | S | 3 |
| Pennsylvania | 29.3 | F | 37 |
| Rhode Island | 28.3 | F | 33 |
| South Carolina | 30.0 | F | 40 |
| South Dakota | 26.0 | U | 27 |
| Tennessee | 33.0 | F | 46 |
| Texas | 30.5 | F | 42 |
| Utah | 19.3 | S | 4 |
| Vermont | 21.0 | S- | 8 |
| Virginia | 24.8 | U | 22 |
| Washington | 20.5 | S- | 5 |
| West Virginia | 36.8 | F | 51 |
| Wisconsin | 24.1 | S- | 21 |
| Wyoming | 23.0 | S- | 13 |
Data Source: No Leisure-Time Physical Activity (%), 2009.
EXPLANATION: This measure includes women age 18 and older in the non-institutionalized civilian population who reported that they did not have any leisure-time physical activity during the past month.
SOURCE: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey Data (BRFSS), 2009, available at http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/brfss/index.asp and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Public Health and Science, Office on Women’s Health. Quick Health Data Online, 2010, Washington, DC, 2010, available at http://www.womenshealth.gov/quickhealthdata. The national overall number and national data by age are the median of 50 states and the District of Columbia. Data for race/ethnicity and age are three-year averages from 2007-2009 and are age-adjusted to the 2000 standard population.
Footnotes
1 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Healthy People 2010, 2nd ed. (Washington: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2000), 22-23, available at http://www.healthypeople.gov/Publications/; Ilkka M. Vuori, “Dose Response of physical activity and low back pain, osteoarthritis and osteoporosis,” in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. Vol. 33, No. 6, June 2001, 551-S586.
2 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. Fact Sheet for Health Professionals on Physical Activity Guidelines for Adults,” 2008, available at http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/physical/pdf/PA_Fact_Sheet_Adults.pdf
