A new study from San Diego State University finds that people who live in city neighborhoods are twice as likely to get exercise than their suburban counterparts. 

According to the study published in this month’s American Journal of Preventative Medicine, the biggest single factor influencing physical activity around the world is accessibility to sidewalks.

Researchers looked at data from 11,541 survey participants in 11 countries, which included the United States, Lithuania, Brazil, Sweden and Japan. Those individuals who reported living in a city neighborhood with easy access to sidewalks were 15-50 percent more likely to get moderate-to vigorous activity at least five days a week for at least 30 minutes each day.

SDSU professor and lead author Jim Sallis said this is likely because sidewalks can be used for recreation like jogging and in-line skating as well as for transportation, in lieu of using a car or other means of transportation.

“Even in this group of culturally diverse countries, this one factor held consistent,” Sallis said.  “Many of these activity-friendly neighborhoods also had most people living within a close 10-15 minute walking distance to recreation facilities, shopping or mass transit stops. People who lived in the most activity-friendly neighborhoods were twice as likely to meet physical activity guidelines as those living in activity-unfriendly areas.”

  

There are no comments for this entry.

Post a Comment

Name:* E-mail Address: URL:

Comment*

Please type the word below*

Please leave the following field blank:

*Required fields (your email address will not be published)