News
24 April, 2025
Sport in decline
YOUNG adults are becoming less active in meeting the recommended 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity a week, a QUT study has found.
The study by David Abernethy and Associate Professor Toby Pavey, from QUT’s School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, with Dr Jason Bennie, from Murrumbidgee Primary Health Network, was published in PLOS One and investigated the physical activity levels of two million American adults between 2011 and 2019.
First author Mr Abernethy said the researchers saw a steady decline among young adults.
“While the study used data from the United States (US), Australia faces similar physical activity (PA) adherence challenges, which indicates the need for effective, targeted interventions to increase the PA levels of our population.
“This decline among young adults was unexpected, particularly as prior evidence has suggested that increasing age is generally associated with declines in PA.
“A possible explanation for this decline is the increased accessibility and reliance on sedentary behaviours associated with expansion of digital media resulting in decreased PA among young adults.
“An analysis of high school students in the US found that TV screen time had significantly decreased, and other screen time significantly increased between 2007 and 2015.”
Mr Abernethy said ongoing research on PA trends and identifying factors contributing to sufficient activity helps to enable understanding of population behaviour shifts, priority areas for intervention and the impact of public health campaigns that promote physical activity.
“While any level of PA is beneficial, being able to achieve 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity each week significantly improves well-being and reduces the risk of chronic disease and premature death,” he said.
“Moderate-intensity PA allows for conversation, while vigorous-intensity PA causes huffing and puffing, making it harder to talk.”
Professor Pavey said the study corroborated others that had found men were more likely to be physically active than women.
The study, Temporal trends in aerobic physical activity guideline adherence among nationally representative samples of U.S adults between 2011 and 2019: Cross-sectional findings from a sample of over 2 million adults was published in PLOS One.
