Behaviors

Physical inactivity, or living a sedentary lifestyle, can increase the risk of several negative health outcomes, such as cardiovascular disease,

cancer

, cancer mortality

, Type 2 diabetes

and premature death

. Around 10% of deaths among adults ages 40-69 and 7.8% of deaths among adults ages 70 and older can be attributed to physical inactivity.

Changes over time. Nationally, the percentage of adults ages 65 and older in fair or better health who reported doing no physical activity or exercise other than their regular job in the past 30 days significantly increased 6% from 29.4% to 31.2% between 2018 and 2021. Physical inactivity significantly increased in five states, led by 23% in both Alabama (33.7% to 41.3%) and Maine (28.6% to 35.1%) and 18% in West Virginia (34.7% to 41.0%). Some income, gender and racial/ethnic groups experienced significant increases in physical inactivity, including 12% among older adults with a household income of $25,000-$49,999 (31.7% to 35.5%), 8% among those with a household income less than $25,000 (40.3% to 43.6%), 6% among females (32.2% to 34.1%) and 5% among white older adults (28.6% to 30.0%).

Disparities. Physical inactivity was 1.9 times higher in Alabama (41.3%) than Colorado (21.4%), the states with the highest and lowest percentages in 2021. Physical inactivity varied significantly by education, income, race/ethnicity, gender and metropolitan status. The prevalence was: