Reduced physical activity in middle age: "...doesn't bode at all well for future health and should serve as a wake-up call to us all..."

New study reveals how we become more sedentary during middle age

The decreases were found in both men and women, however black men showed the biggest decline, usually starting as the most active but reducing their activity levels by nearly one hour daily.

Black women started as the least active and continued to have the lowest physical activity levels ten years later.

"We know higher intensity physical activity tends to decline with age. But these findings show just how much even gentle forms of activity that are part of daily routines, like casual walking, slip in midlife, which doesn't bode at all well for future health and should serve as a wake-up call to us all," said first and corresponding author Kelley Pettee Gabriel, Ph.D.