National Health Interview Survey 2017

New data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), published by NCCIH and the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), show that many more Americans meditated or practiced yoga in 2017 than in 2012.

The use of meditation more than tripled among adults, with 14.2% of people age 18 and older reporting that they had meditated during the past year in 2017, compared with 4.1% in 2012. Among children age 4 to 17, 5.4% meditated in 2017, compared with 0.6% in 2012.

The proportion of U.S. adults who reported practicing yoga increased from 9.5% in 2012 to 14.3% in 2017. Among children age 4 to 17, 3.1% practiced yoga in 2012, and 8.4% did in 2017.

A third complementary health approach, chiropractic care, showed less dramatic trends. Among adults, there was a statistically significant increase in the use of chiropractic care from 9.1% in 2012 to 10.3% in 2017. Among children, the difference between the two years was not statistically significant. In 2012, 3.5% of children age 4 to 17 received care from chiropractors; 3.4% did in 2017.

The National Health Interview Survey is an annual survey conducted by the NCHS in which thousands of Americans are interviewed about their health- and illness-related experiences. Every 5 years starting in 2002, questions about complementary health, developed by NCCIH and the NCHS, have been included in the survey.