Key points
- Key reports and research articles offer insight into the need to increase physical activity.
- See links to Surgeon General reports and articles in CDC's Vital Signs and Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports.
- Also see links to select peer-reviewed publications.
Reports
Surgeon General reports
Step It Up! Call to Action to Promote Walking and Walkable Communities
Provides strategies for communities to increase access to safe and convenient places to walk and wheelchair roll.
Physical Activity and Health, 1996
First Surgeon General report to address physical activity and health.
CDC Vital Signs
Adults with Disabilities, 2014
Shows that adults with disabilities who get no physical activity are 50% more likely to have diabetes, stroke, heart disease, or cancer than those who get the recommended amount of physical activity.
More People Walk to Better Health, 2012
How many Americans are walking their way to better health and what can be done to make that easier for others.
State reports
State Indicator Report on Physical Activity, 2014
State information on physical activity behaviors and environmental and policy supports for physical activity.
Featured research
Select published research about physical activity with CDC authors.
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports (MMWRs)
Dietary and Physical Activity Behaviors Among High School Students — Youth Risk Behavior Survey, United States, 2019
Trends in Meeting Physical Activity Guidelines Among Urban and Rural Dwelling Adults — United States, 2008–2017
Walking for Transportation or Leisure Among U.S. Women and Men — National Health Interview Survey, 2005–2015
Other select peer-reviewed publications
Policies for active communities
Priorities and Indicators for Economic Evaluation of Built Environment Interventions to Promote Physical Activity
Healthy Community Design, Anti-displacement, and Equity Strategies in the USA: A Scoping Review
Infectious disease
CDC-authored publications