Are there special recommendations for young people?

	Recommendations How active do adults need to be to gain some benefit? Are there special recommendations for young people? Are there special recommendations for older adults? Are there special recommendations for persons with disabilities or illness? How can physical activity improve bone health and help prevent osteoporosis? How can physical activity help prevent overweight and obesity?

"Laziness may appear attractive, but work gives satisfaction." —Anne Frank

There are currently two widely accepted sets of developmentally appropriate recommendations—one for adolescents, the other for elementary school-aged children. They address how much and what kinds of physical activity young people need. The International Consensus Conference on Physical Activity Guidelines for Adolescents (Sallis et al., 1994) issued the following recommendations:

• All adolescents should be physically active daily, or nearly every day, as part of play, games, sports, work, transportation, recreation, physical education, or planned exercise, in the context of family, school, and community activities.
• Adolescents should engage in three or more sessions per week of activities that last 20 minutes or more at a time and that require moderate to vigorous levels of exertion.

The developmental needs and abilities of younger children differ from those of adolescents and adults. The National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) issued physical activity guidelines for elementary school-aged children (Corbin et al., 1998.) that recommend the following:

• Elementary school-aged children should accumulate at least 30 to 60 minutes of age-appropriate and developmentally appropriate physical activity from a variety of activities on all, or most, days of the week.
• An accumulation of more than 60 minutes, and up to several hours per day, of age-appropriate and developmentally appropriate activity is encouraged.
• Some of the child's activity each day should be in periods lasting 10 to 15 minutes or more and include moderate to vigorous activity. This activity will typically be intermittent in nature, involving alternating moderate to vigorous activity with brief periods of rest and recovery.

Children should not have extended periods of inactivity.

The above information on physical activity recommendations for youth is from Promoting Better Health for Young People Through Physical Activity and Sports: A Report to the President From the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Secretary of Education.

For educational and interactive Web sites especially for children and teens, please visit the links below. These sites discuss the need to be active and offer ideas on how to get youth moving. 

BAM! Body and Mind, CDC

KidsHealth, The Nemours Foundation*

National Bone Health Campaign

Also, the link below offers brochures that contain photos, motivating messages, and specific ideas for home, school, and community. The parents' brochure is available in English and Spanish versions.

Physical Activity Brochures for Parents, Teachers, and Principals to Increase Physical Activity Among Youth

*Links to non-Federal organizations are provided solely as a service to our users. Links do not constitute an endorsement of any organization by CDC or the Federal Government, and none should be inferred. The CDC is not responsible for the content of the individual organization Web pages found at this link.

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This page last updated July 14, 2003

United States Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity