Physical Activity research did not gather full steam until landmark scientific consensus meetings in 1984 (Atlanta) and 1988 (Toronto).
These landmark meetings resulted in scientific consensus statements summarizing the world’s knowledge about exercise, fitness, and health.
The widespread impact of these meetings, as well as a rapidly growing knowledge base, led to key documents being published in the United States including a position statement by the American Heart Association in 1992 recognizing physical inactivity as an independent risk factor for coronary heart disease and recommendations on physical activity and public health.
As a result the historical benchmark ‘Physical Activity and Health: A Report of the Surgeon General’ was published in 1996, where nearly 100 experts outlined the consensus in the scientific community about the beneficial effects of physical activity.
That landmark publication signalled the maturation of the field of physical activity research by providing a scientific footing for the development of public health guidelines and policy about physical activity and by outlining a host of questions for future study.
It is fair to say that the scientific basis then grew exponentially, and in 2008 the first-ever federal ‘Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans’ was published in the U.S., and the ‘UK Chief Medical Officers’ Physical Activity Guidelines’ in the UK.
In that same year, the International Society for Physical Activity and Health was incorporated as a professional society for the advancement of the science and practice of physical activity and health worldwide. The society’s incorporation was another sign of the maturity of the field of physical activity research.
The Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee updated that knowledge base in 2018 in the U.S., along with the UK Chief Medical Officers’ Physical Activity Guidelines in the UK in 2019.
Today’s recommended Physical Activity Guidelines for Adults:
Healthy Active 