- Only one in five New York adults engages in the regular and sustained physical activity needed to reduce the risks of heart disease, high blood pressure and other health problems which lead to premature death or disability. (Source: 1998 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey)
- Physical inactivity is a cause of 25,000 deaths annually in New York State.
- Physical inactivity and poor nutrition combine to cause 14 percent of all deaths in the United States, second only to tobacco use. (Source: McGinnis/Foege, JAMA, 11/10/93)
- Each year, physically inactive people incur medical costs that average $300 greater than those of physically active people.
- Heart attack is the leading cause of death among men and women in New York State and nationally. One of every two men and one of every three women aged 40 and less will eventually develop coronary heart disease. (Source: National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute)
- About one-fourth of the nation’s population lives with some form of cardiovascular disease — high blood pressure, heart disease or the after effects of stroke. (Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
- Sedentary people have twice the risk of heart disease as those who are physically active.
- Obesity has become an epidemic in the United States. The rate of overweight adults has increased by 61 percent since 1991. (Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
- Regular physical activity reduces anxiety and contributes to helping a person cope with stress.
- Moderate physical activity for only 30 minutes a day on most days of the week offers the benefits of reduced health risk and of looking and feeling better. (Source: U.S. Surgeon General)
- Small lifestyle changes that increase moderate-intensity physical activity such as walking, improve long-term cardiorespiratory fitness and blood presssure as effectively as a professionally-designed, structured exercise program of vigorous activity in a fitness center. (Source: National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute)
- A 14-year study showed that the fittest employees had only one-eighth as many injuries as the least fit employees, and that unfit employees incurred twice the amount of injury costs. (Source: Physical Activity and Fitness Research Digest. Cady 1985)
- Regular, moderately-paced walking can reduce the risk of stroke in women by more than 30 percent. (JAMA, 283, June 2000)
