--- title: Study: American Medical Schools Lack Exercise Curriculum description: Researchers at Oregon State University found that less than half of physicians trained in the U.S. in 2013 had received any instruction on exercise canonical: https://time.com/3765835/american-medical-schools-exercise-curriculum/ author: Laura Stampler article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-31T19:31:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:06:22.484Z article:section: Health og:title: American Medical Schools Aren't Teaching the Importance of Exercise og:description: "I was surprised that medical schools didn’t spend more time on it" og:url: https://time.com/3765835/american-medical-schools-exercise-curriculum/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: American Medical Schools Aren't Teaching the Importance of Exercise twitter:description: "I was surprised that medical schools didn’t spend more time on it" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # American Medical Schools Aren't Teaching the Importance of Exercise ## Video: How $1,000 Could Help Your Health [Watch (HLS stream): How $1,000 Could Help Your Health](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/EILRa37f.m3u8) (2:01)  _Published 2014-08-22. From acupuncture to yoga, $1,000 can go a long way to improving your health._ by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Mar 31, 2015 7:31 PM UTC by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Mar 31, 2015 7:31 PM UTC Many doctors are finishing medical school without getting any training in the importance of exercise, a new study shows. [Researchers](http://oregonstate.edu/ua/ncs/archives/2015/mar/exercise-largely-absent-us-medical-school-curriculum-study-shows) at Oregon State University found that less than half of physicians trained in the U.S. in 2013 had received any instruction on exercise, based on curriculum records listed online. Of the 118 of 170 American medical schools that listed their curriculum online, 51% of schools didn’t offer exercise-related classes, 21% had one class and 82% didn’t require students to learn about physical activity. “There are immense medical benefits to exercise; it can help as much as medicine to address some health concerns,” Brad Cardinal, an OSU professor of sports science, [said](http://oregonstate.edu/ua/ncs/archives/2015/mar/exercise-largely-absent-us-medical-school-curriculum-study-shows) in the study’s press release. “Because exercise has medicinal as well as other benefits, I was surprised that medical schools didn’t spend more time on it.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3765835/american-medical-schools-exercise-curriculum/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3765835/american-medical-schools-exercise-curriculum/"},"headline":"American Medical Schools Aren't Teaching the Importance of Exercise","datePublished":"2015-03-31T19:31:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:06:22.484Z","description":"\"I was surprised that medical schools didn’t spend more time on it\"","url":"https://time.com/3765835/american-medical-schools-exercise-curriculum/","keywords":["Exercise","health"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Laura Stampler","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/exercise/","name":"Exercise"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3765835/american-medical-schools-exercise-curriculum/","name":"American Medical Schools Aren't Teaching the Importance of Exercise"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"How $1,000 Could Help Your Health","description":"From acupuncture to yoga, $1,000 can go a long way to improving your health.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/EILRa37f/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-08-22T16:19:48.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/EILRa37f.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3765835/american-medical-schools-exercise-curriculum/","duration":"PT2M1S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3765835/american-medical-schools-exercise-curriculum/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```