Large Decline Since 1995 In Favorite Activities Which Require Physical Exercise.

We have heard the alarm calls about the nation’s “obesity epidemic,” with Americans getting fatter every year. And we have read that we consume more and more calories, and exercise far too little. A new Harris Poll throws more light on why this is happening; increasingly our favorite past-times are sedentary ones which require little or no physical exercise.

Every year since 1995, Harris Interactive has asked a nationwide cross-section of adults to name their two or three favorite leisure time activities. Eight years ago, 38% of all the replies involved activities that required exercise including fishing, gardening, playing sports, swimming, walking, hunting, bicycling, hiking, running or dancing. Now only 29% of the replies involve exercise. A higher proportion of our favorite activities can now be accomplished by sitting.

These are the results of a nationwide survey of 1,017 adults surveyed by telephone by Harris Interactive® between October 14 and 19, 2003.

Reading, TV and spending time with family still top the list

As in previous years, the largest numbers of people mention reading (24%), watching TV (17%) and spending time with the family and kids (17%) as their favorite leisure time activities. These are followed by fishing (9%), movie-going (7%), socializing (7%), playing team sports (6%), exercise (6%) and gardening (6%).

However, the number of people who list reading as their favorite activity has declined seven points from a high of 31% in 2000. Those mentioning gardening are down nine points from a high of 15% in 1999. Spending time with the family and socializing with friends and neighbors reached their highest points this year.

Time spent working and leisure time

In last year’s survey we recorded a drop in the number of hours people claimed to be working (including keeping house or going to school). After eight consecutive years in which the median number of hours worked had been 50 or 51, last year it went down to 47. This year it has bounced back to 49, only just below the level each year from 1993 to 2001, possibly a sign that the economy is rebounding.

The median number of available leisure hours (“to relax, watch TV, take part in sports or hobbies, go swimming or skiing, go to the movies, theater, concerts, or other forms of entertainment, get together with friends”) is estimated at 19 hours this year. In the 1970s people reported more leisure time (26 hours a week in 1973); but in the fourteen years since 1989 it has only varied between 19 and 20 hours.

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