More Americans are getting more exercise now, particularly millennials, a report from Gallup and Sharecare states. According to statistics, 53.4% of people in the United States reported exercising three or more times a week, which is 2% up from 2008. The new numbers are based on surveys of 177,000 people all over the country in 2016.
The city with the highest rate was Boulder, Colorado, where close to 70% of residents said they exercised three or more times a week, TIME reports. Two other metropolitan areas in the states, Fort Collins and Greeley, were in the top five, placing second and fourth, respectively. California and Hawaii followed.
Dan Witters, lead researcher, said,
As you might expect, the communities with the highest levels of reported exercise are also among the communities with the highest wellbeing overall. That reflects the impact that exercise has on wellbeing.
Witters was not surprised by the results. He said, “Boulder has a very tangible culture of wellbeing, lots of bike paths, lots of built structure that makes the healthy choice the easy choice.” He added that this is true for all the other high-ranking communities. “These are places that have invested in walkability, green spaces and public areas where people can get together and move — all things that have proven to increase the chance of lots of people exercising in your area.”
The fact that Boulder is a high-income city is a factor, Witters said, as wealthier people report exercising more often. Affluence is linked to better health literacy, health insurance and overall access to health care services and exercise facilities.
The increase in exercise rates is brought on in part by young adults ages 18 to 29, who are exercising more than the same age group did some 10 years ago. Witters said, “The millennials are improving across a wide variety of health metrics since 2008, while all the older generations are kind of flat.”
