Exercise Among U.S. Women of Reproductive Age, 2022 and 2024

Summary

• Physical activity has many benefits for women of reproductive age, and national guidelines recommend both aerobic and muscle-strengthening activity.
• In 2022 and 2024, an estimated 25.1% of U.S. women aged 18–44 met both recommendations in their leisure time, 21.7% met the aerobic one only, 6.1% the muscle-strengthening one only — and 47.2% met neither.
• Activity varied by race and ethnicity, age and education, so addressing group-specific barriers could improve health.

Why it matters

Among women of reproductive age, regular activity brings immediate benefits — better sleep and mental health — and improves blood pressure, body composition and glucose metabolism, lowering the risk of costly chronic diseases, including osteoporosis, later on. Muscle-strengthening builds bone strength and density and preserves muscle during weight loss. In pregnancy, aerobic activity can lower the risk of a low-birthweight baby, gestational diabetes, high blood pressure and postpartum depression, and strength training can reduce low back pain and cesarean delivery.

The guidelines (Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, 2nd edition): at least 150 minutes a week of moderate aerobic activity, 75 minutes of vigorous activity, or a mix — plus muscle-strengthening on two or more days a week.

How it was measured

Data came from the National Health Interview Survey, a household survey of the civilian population, combining 2022 and 2024 for precision (the two years were comparable). After dropping those with missing answers, 10,891 women aged 18–44 were analyzed, representing about 56 million women nationally.

Who met the guidelines

• Aerobic only was most common among White women (24.2%), versus Black (18.0%) and Hispanic (18.5%) women.
• Muscle-strengthening only didn't differ by group.

How active they were

• Muscle-strengthening: 55.3% did none, 13.6% some, 31.1% enough. White women were likelier than Asian women to do enough (33.1% vs 26.4%). Women 18–24 were least likely to do none (50.5%), rising with age, and doing enough climbed with education — from 18.3% without a high school diploma to 41.2% with a graduate degree.
• Aerobic: 23.2% did none, 30.0% some, 20.3% enough, and 26.4% a high amount. High levels were likelier among White women (30.0%) than Asian (19.7%), Black (22.3%) or Hispanic (23.3%) women, among the young (30.0% at 18–24, 29.2% at 25–29, 23.3% at 40–44), and among those with degrees.

What it means

About a quarter of women of reproductive age met both guidelines — consistent with a 2020 federal estimate of 28.7% (ages 18–34) and 22.7% (35–44). The pattern — more activity among White, younger and more educated women — matches earlier research, and the less-active groups also bear more chronic disease, so focused efforts could help narrow those gaps.

• Pregnancy: safely raising activity could also lower preeclampsia and gestational diabetes and shorten labor and recovery.
• Habits: most adults keep or cut their activity as they age, so building habits early may slow later declines.
• Strength training: about half did none, and far fewer met the strength guideline alone than the aerobic one alone — perhaps because of barriers like access to weights or bands, knowing proper technique, or social perceptions. Adding strength work to aerobic programs might help.

Sources

Based on K.A. Kamanani Conklin, Jasmine Y. Nakayama, Miriam E. Van Dyke, Kim G. Harley and Hannah R. Thompson, "Leisure-Time Physical Activity Among Women of Reproductive Age — United States, 2022 and 2024," MMWR, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as corrected by its erratum; authors from the University of California, Berkeley, and CDC. Published by CDC and in the public domain; rewritten in hubnx's own words. The report's abstract gives the sample as 10,981 women, its methods as 10,891; this page follows the methods.