Dr. Katrina Piercy from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently delivered a webinar titled “Developing the Second Edition of the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans.” The purpose of the webinar was to provide an explanation of the development of the upcoming federal physical activity recommendations.

Dr. Piercy began by describing the events leading up to the start of the Second Edition of the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. The first edition, released in 2008, was the first time the federal government put out physical activity guidelines. These recommendations focused on the amount of activity necessary for overall health benefits for people over age 6. The guidelines state that adults should aim to get the equivalent of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity per week and perform muscle-strengthening exercises for each major muscle group on two days per week. It is recommended that children accumulate 60 minutes per day of aerobic, muscle-, and bone-strengthening activity. Currently only 20% of adults and adolescents meet the respective aerobic and muscle-strengthening guidelines.

After discussing the current recommendations, Dr. Piercy continued with an explanation of events leading to the updated guidelines that will be released in 2018. Since the release of the previous recommendations, the field of research regarding physical activity and health has grown exponentially with many previous gaps having been identified and addressed. In addition, several key documents supporting physical activity have been released such as the Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Promote Walking and Walkable Communities and the updated National Physical Activity Plan.

On the heels of these developments, the official process of updating the guidelines began with the chartering of the Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee. This group of subject matter experts was selected through a nomination process to provide guidance to the federal government. The committee has since participated in several public meetings to discuss the process of developing the new guidelines. Their charge is to revisit the 2008 Guidelines and determine what is consistent with current literature, what needs to be updated, and what areas still need to be addressed. The committee was then divided into subgroups to examine the following topics specifically:

  • Aging
  • Brain health
  • Cancer
  • Cardiometabolic health & weight management
  • Exposure
  • Individuals with chronic conditions
  • Promotion of physical activity
  • Sedentary behavior
  • Youth

From there, an extensive literature review was conducted, and the committees continued to hold meetings to provide updates on their findings. The final product of this process will be the Advisory Committee Report which will provide independent evidence and recommendations based on the current evidence. This document will be used by federal staff at HHS to develop policy documents, or the actual guidelines. The final step in the process is having the new guidelines reflected in federal initiatives and resources such as funding announcements.

Overall this webinar provided great insight into what can be a very complicated process to try to understand.