Active Living Program News


Daily Activity Important to Health

Recent U.S. and Canadian studies find that people who walk or bike to accomplish daily chores, or perform other daily moderate-intensity physical activities, have a lower risk of heart disease and obesity than those who lead a more sedentary lifestyle. This is good news for health professionals who seek practical solutions to control soaring obesity rates and the resulting diseases.

Mounting evidence suggests that activities such as taking the stairs instead of the elevator, walking to a co-worker’s office instead of calling or e-mailing, and getting off the bus one stop earlier make a difference in health risk factors. Dr. Anthony Graham of the Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation says, “We have to start focusing on healthy lifestyle habits to replace our ‘drive-through’ mentality.”

Three research studies released in January and February 2005 support previous research and the efforts of grassroots, private, and government health groups to encourage daily physical activity. A summary of each of the studies follows.

  • The Mayo Clinic’s James Levine and his team of researchers found new evidence that a major cause of obesity lies in the prevalence of desk jobs, car pools, suburban sprawl, and other lifestyle and environmental factors that discourage physical activity. Their extensive study determined that lean subjects spent at least 150 more minutes moving in some way than the obese subjects. In a report of the findings, Dr. William Dietz of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated, “Figuring out ways to increase physical activity—not necessarily getting people jogging every day but just building physical activity into a person’s day—are reasonable strategies that have the promise to combat this epidemic of obesity.”
  • Living in an urban area results in more physical activity than living in a suburb, mainly because many daily chores such as shopping and other errands involve walking to nearby shops instead of driving. Published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, this is the first study that uses objective measurements of both physical activity and neighborhoods, and it suggests that providing more opportunities for moderate levels of physical activity can have lasting public health benefits. In the most active urban areas, up to 38% of study participants were physically active at least 30 minutes each day. In comparison, in suburbs where people rely on cars and it’s not easy to walk to shops, only 18% of participants reached the benchmark of 30 minutes of physical activity a day.
  • The Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation’s Annual Report Card reports that city dwellers are twice as likely to walk, bike, or take public transit to get to work or do daily chores compared to nonurban residents. The Foundation finds that each kilometer walked per day reduces the likelihood of becoming obese by nearly 5%, and each hour spent in a car increases the risk of becoming obese by 6%. They suggest that people make physical activity a part of their lives as a way to protect public health. They encourage activities such as parking the car farther away and using the stairs as ways to include more physical activity as part of a lifestyle change.

Active Living Every Day encourages sedentary adults to address their barriers to physical activity—inadequate walking areas or recreation facilities, no time to be active, being uncomfortable with doing physical activity in public—and teaches them realistic ways to overcome these obstacles. Our philosophy of behavior change addresses the daily struggles that get in the way of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Trained facilitators guide participants through learning activities that give them realistic options for increasing their level of physical activity and improving their health. For more information, please contact Active Living Partners at 800-747-4457 ext 2522, by e-mail at michellem@hkusa.com, or visit our Web site at www.ActiveLiving.info.

Sources

City life better for heart than ’burbs: Study. www.ctv.ca, February 10, 2005.

Everyday activity may be critical for losing weight. The Seattle Times, January 28, 2005.

Frank, Lawrence D., Thomas L. Schmid, James F. Sallis, James Chapman, Brian E. Saelens. Linking objectively measured physical activity with objectively measured urban form. American Journal of Preventive Medicine Vol 28, Issue 2, Supplement 2; Feb 2005; pp 117-125.

Yee, Daniel. Study finds Atlanta urbanites more active. http://abcnews.go.com/Health/print?id=486183 February 9, 2005.



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