The AFP reports on a study published recently in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine: of the teeny fraction of Americans who participate in moderate or vigorous activity — as recommended to stay trim and healthy — many counted cooking as moderate exercise.
The article reports that researchers from Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Louisiana analyzed data from a survey conducted between 2003 and 2008, involving nearly 80,000 Americans who were asked about their activities in the preceding 24 hours. (More on Time.com: Figuring Out Food Labels)
The findings:
Only 5.07% of Americans reported doing any vigorous-intensity activity like running, while at the other end of the scale, more than 95% said they had engaged in the highly sedentary activity of eating and drinking.
The next most common activity was another sedentary one — watching television or a movie, which 8 in 10 Americans did.
The “most frequently reported moderate activities were food and drink preparation (25.7%), followed by lawn, garden, and houseplant care (10.6%),” the study said.
Fitness fail.
[Via Discovery News]
More on Time.com: