Sidewalks, Parks Seen As Help In Obesity Fight
November 20, 2006
Sidewalks, parks and neighborhood stores could be part of the solution to the ever-expanding U.S. waistline, according to a new report.
Writing in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine,
researchers offer a top-10 list of ways to turn sedentary
cities and suburbs into "activity-friendly" communities.
The point, they say, is to fight obesity
by encouraging people to get more incidental activity
into their daily lives.
One of the main goals is to give people reasons to get out of their cars. This includes building more sidewalks and intermingling residential and commercial buildings so that more people will walk to the store or the movie theater instead of driving.
"The number of hours we spend in our car everyday detracts from our physical, social and mental health," Dr. Laura Brennan Ramirez, the report's lead author, said in a statement.
"Our dependence on the car is overwhelming," added Brennan Ramirez, an adjunct assistant professor of community health at Saint Louis University School of Public Health.
She and her colleagues arrived at their recommendations
through a systematic review of research into the community
features that encourage physical activity. They then
had a panel of experts pare these features down into
a top-10 list.
Among the recommendations:
- Along with better sidewalks and bike lanes, communities
should improve mass transportation so that people
can walk to the train station, for instance, instead
of driving door to door.
- Improve community aesthetics. People will be more
likely to walk if their surroundings are clean and
offer some sights to see.
- More schools should require gym classes, while workplaces
could offer activity incentives, like flexible schedules
or on-site gyms.
- Public policies should divert some of the funds that go to highways toward projects like creating roadway bike lanes. Cities should direct funds toward maintaining parks and other recreational areas.
The current anti-walking design of many U.S. communities
is a particular problem for older adults and children,
Brennan Ramirez noted.
"We haven't really designed our communities well for
older adults, particularly once they get to the point
that they can't drive," she said. "In addition, given
concerns about the soaring childhood
obesity rates, not having schools located within
the neighborhood is a major problem."
Source from: http://edition.cnn.com
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