Cross-posted from the President's Council of Fitness, Sports and Nutrition blog.

By: Karin Allor Pfeiffer, PhD, FACSM, Associate Professor in the Department of Kinesiology and faculty in the Center for Physical Activity and Health at Michigan State University, Member of the PCFSN Science Board, and Subcommittee Member of the Physical Activity Guidelines Midcourse Report

In 2008, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released the first-ever Physical Activity Guidelines (PAG), which describes the amount and types of physical activity Americans need for overall health and well-being.

To mark the fifth anniversary of the PAG, the President's Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition (PCFSN) convened a subcommittee of experts to conduct a midterm review of effective interventions that promote physical activity opportunities for youth ages 3-17.

After reviewing the relevant science, the subcommittee developed a report - Physical Activity Guidelines Midcourse Report: Strategies to Increase Physical Activity Among Youth - that focused on five key settings that provide opportunities for youth to be active for 60 minutes or more a day where they live, learn, and play.

School: Make quality physical activity a part of the school day in a variety of ways. Overall, findings supported school-based interventions as having the most evidence to increase physical activity among youth. With the average school day lasting 6-7 hours, it is not surprising that enhanced PE classes, classroom activity breaks, recess, and before and after school activities have played a large role in advancing childhood health. Active transporation, which includes walking or biking to and from school, also provides a great opportunity for kids to get their daily physical activity.

Preschool and Childcare: Start healthy habits for life with active play in preschool. Preschool and childcare centers showed excellent results in starting healthy habits for youth. Increasing time children spend outside and providing portable play equipment on playgrounds were especially effective. The findings also demonstrated that training staff in the delivery of structured physical activity sessions is a productive way to get youth active at an early age.

Community: Build the physical environments of cities, towns and neighborhoods to encourage physical activity. Community settings were found to be promising in impacting physical activity at the population level. Changes to the built environment, such as altering the mix of residential and retail space to be more walker-friendly can encourage more physical activity and shape the sociocultural environment of a community.

Family and Home: Be physically active with your kids and help them develop active lifestyles at a young age. Research shows that children develop physical activity behaviors, attitudes and values in the home, but there is not yet enough evidence to make firm recommendations in this area.

Primary Care: Physical activity is critical for overall health. Talk to your patients about the importance of being active every day. Health care providers remain critical to monitoring children's health, but more research should be conducted to determine specific recommendations on enhancing physical activity.

Parents and caregivers, childcare providers, teachers, healthcare professionaks and policymakers have an opportunity to work together to ensure that children are able to achieve 60 minutes or more of physical activity each day. By providing support at home, integrating physical activity into the school day and building smarter communities, we can enable youth to adopt healthier, more active lifestyles.

To download the Physical Activity Guidelines Midcourse Report: Strategies to Increase Physical Activity Among Youth and infographic, visit www.health.gov/paguidelines.

The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans Mid-Course Report is now available for public comment until December 10th.

The Physical Activity Guidelines Mid-Course Report: Strategies for Increasing Physical Activity Among Youth summarizes evidence-based intervention strategies for increasing physical activity in youth ages 3 to 17.

The report describes interventions for increasing activity in several key settings where youth live, play, and learn, including:

• Schools
• Preschool and Childcare Programs
  
• Communities
• Families and Homes
• Primary Care

We'd love your feedback! For more information on the PAG Mid-Course Report public comment period and to download the draft report, visit: http://www.health.gov/paguidelines/midcourse.

There are many great programs that help people engage in physical activity for a period of time - everything from group exercise classes to walking clubs. But in order to ensure that ALL people are able to reach the recommendations for physical activity as outlined in the national Physical Activity Guidelines, these programs need to be supported by policies that ensure that physical activity is within reach to people in their everyday lives so that they might stick with the behavior they are trying to achieve.

Policies can range from community-wide strategies such as "complete streets" initiatives, that make streets safe for everyone - whether they are on foot, in a wheelchair, on a bike or in a car - to worksite policies that open access to and ensure the safety of stairwells so that people can climb the stairs rather than take the elevator.

Communities across the country are part of this movement that is focusing on how policy and environmental change strategies affect health. The Y's Healthier Communities Initiatives are part of that movement, convening leadership teams in more than 200 communities to engage in strategies that promote healthy living. To date, participating communities have made more than 10,000 changes that promote physical activity.

For example, in Marshalltown, Iowa, changes included the allocation of $50,000 in the city budget for sidewalk maintenance (annually) and a $1.5 billion bike trail extension project linking two present trails to make one continous trail for community members to use throughout the community. In Brattleboro, Vermont the town plan included, for the first time, language related to community design in support of walking and cycling for routine physical activity. In Port Huron, Michigan the team convened by the Y was successful in working to increase the amount of physical activity time offered throughout the school day - doubling the required amount of physical education times in elementary schools from 1 to 2 hours per week, beginning in the fall of 2012. Wilton, Connecticut designated an area near a high school track to be used as an outdoor fitness center for use by the public.

Other examples include improving and building sidewalks; addressing safety concerns such as traffic, lighting, and police enforcement; influencing zoning guidelines to encourage physical activity; adding or expanding recess in local schools; creating or enhancing Safe Routes to Schools programs; and offering workplace incentives to engage in physical activity.

As we encourage individuals to engage in physical activity, we must remember that they often need support to make it happen. Making the healthy choice the easy choice will ensure that those healthy behaviors stay with them for a liftime.

What policies have you seen in your own community that encourage physical activity? Tell us a story about someone who has been impacted by these policies.