Growing inactivity leads to adult obesity - Tip-Off - Brief Article

Parks & Recreation, Feb, 2004

A recent Harris Interactive survey, conducted by The Harris Poll, an independent market research firm, showed that there is an increase in passive leisure time that may be contributing to the obesity epidemic. The report showed a large percentage gap between its 2003 and 1995 polls. In 1995, 38 percent of people were involved in active leisure time that included gardening, playing sports, dancing, tennis and camping.

In 2003, after a telephone survey that contacted 1,017 adults between Oct. 14 and 19, 2003, only 29 percent of people were involved in exercise-related activities. The report also goes into great detail about the tracking of American's weight for the past 20 years. According to its study, in 1983, 58 percent of adults over the age of 25 were overweight. That number had risen to 80 percent since December 2003. For more information about the survey and The Harris Poll, log on to its Web site, www. harrisinteractive.com/news/newsletters_healthcare.asp (click on volume 3, issue 19, Dec. 18, 2003).