This is an archive page.  The links are no longer being updated.

REMARKS BY:   DONNA E. SHALALA,	SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
PLACE:        Washington, D.C.
DATE:         July 11, 1996

The 1996 Olympic games are now just a week away. To reach their peak level of performance, our great athletes trained intensively for years. To see the games, most of us will simply reach for the remote control.

Although channel surfing will bring the Olympics into our living rooms, it will not improve our health. But regular moderate physical activity will.

That's the most important conclusion of our new Surgeon General's Report on Physical Activity and Health.

Two years ago, I commissioned this landmark report so the American people could benefit from decades of research about physical activity.

My intention was to take advantage of the Olympic spirit -- to get our fellow citizens off the couch and on the move.

More than 60 percent of all adults are not regularly active. Almost 15 percent of young people aren't physically active at all. We face a great public health challenge.

The Surgeon General's report is a national call-to-action for all Americans. It says a life without movement is more than just boring -- it's downright unhealthy.

My mother taught me that lesson early. She's in her eighties -- and still plays tennis and does water aerobics.

This report says you don't have to run the Boston Marathon or train for the Olympics to get healthy and stay healthy. From walking your dog to gardening to washing your car, regular moderate activity is the way to go.

This report shows that government can be a partner in educating and inspiring people to make healthy choices. But, it can never act alone.

That's why we are so pleased to be joined today by partners from all over America who are helping people make the right decisions with the only lives they'll ever have.

All of us can follow their example: By getting up. Speaking out. And, doing more.

I hope every health professional will talk to their patients about the importance of physical activity.

Every business needs to help their employees "take five" to be active.

All of us -- young and old -- need to integrate physical activity into our daily lives.

After two weeks of intense competition, we'll extinguish the Olympic torch.

But, we must always keep alive the spirit to be physically active -- to move not at world record speeds, but at a steady pace that will bring our families the best Gold medal of all: good health and longer lives.

Thank you.