It may be a record year for exercise

Frequent exercise may decline in fall and winter, but if the current trend continues, this year may be a record year for U.S. exercise, a survey indicates. Gallup and Healthways found almost 55 percent of U.S. adults exercised frequently in August -- more than any August of the past four years. Each day, the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index asked Americans how many days in the past seven they exercised for at least 30 minutes. Americans' exercise habits are seasonal -- they work out more in the spring and summer months and less in the fall and winter, Gallup said. U.S. adults in all regions of the country were more likely to exercise frequently this August than they were in the same month in 2009, 2010 and 2011. The telephone survey, conducted Aug. 1-31 with a random sample of 31,364 adults, has a margin of error of 1 percentage point.