Q: I am on a sports team and do more than an hour of sports practice each day. Do I have to do lifestyle activity to meet the activity recommendation for teens?
A: As mentioned in chapter 1, teenagers should get 60 or more minutes of physical activity each day. Ideally, teens will select some activity from each of the activity categories in the first three levels of the Physical Activity Pyramid. But if you do muscle fitness exercises, flexibility exercises, and vigorous activities that build cardiovascular fitness as part of a sport practice, you will meet the activity recommendation for teens. Activities at level 2 of the pyramid (including active sports) provide many of the same health benefits as those at level 1 (moderate lifestyle activities). The reason for recommending daily moderate (lifestyle) activity for teens is that this is the type of activity that is done most frequently by adults. If you develop a pattern of doing moderate activity early in life, you are more likely to be active as an adult, even when you are no longer playing on a sports team.
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