What the Research Tells Us: The Best Ways to Promote Active Living Barbara McCann September, 2004

1. What the Research Tells Us:The Best Ways to Promote Active LivingBarbara McCannSeptember, 2004

2. What’s the Problem? Americans are on the move… without moving.

3. What’s the Problem? 60% of adults are at risk for diseases associated with inactivity: • obesity & diabetes • heart disease & stroke • some cancers • depression

4. Physical Inactivity • Contributes to the deaths of about 200,000 people each year. • Causes diseases and conditions that cost at least $77 billion a year to treat.

5. Promoting exercise has not worked Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System

6. What is Active Living? A way of life that integrates physical activity into daily routines.

7. But can we get people out of their cars?

8. Urban Form We already know Affects whether people walk, take transit, drive, or bicycle

9. We already know Walking & Physical Activity Affects Weight Affects Chronic Diseases

10. We want to know ? Walking & Physical Activity Urban Form Affects Weight Affects Chronic Diseases

11. New research abounds

12. Obesity and Design • Each additional half-hour driven each day increases obesity risk by 3%. • People with more destinations close to their homes are less likely to be obese. Frank, L. Am. J. Preventive Medicine, 2004

13. People living in sprawling counties: • Walk less in their leisure time • Have higher body mass indexes • Are more likely to be obese • Are more likely to have high blood pressure. Photo: Congress for the New Urbanism Ewing, R. Am. J. of Health Promotion 2003

14. What is an Activity-Friendly Environment? A place that makes it easy to make the choice to be physically active, through planned exercise or routine daily activity.

15. Research Summaries

16. Designing for Active Recreation People get more physical activity if their neighborhoods provide a high-quality environment for outdoor activity.

17. Access to facilities • People living in areas without many public outdoor recreation facilities were more likely to be overweight. Catlin, T.K. Am. J. of Health Promotion 2003 • The closer people lived to a bikeway, the more likely they were to use it. Troped P.J. Preventive Medicine 2001

18. Access to facilities helps people get enough activity. within ten minutes of home Powell, K.E. AJPH 2003

19. Walkable neighborhoods make a difference Residents in a highly walkable neighborhood engaged in about 70 more minutes per week of moderate and vigorous physical activity than residents in a low-walkability neighborhood. Photo: Michael Ronkin, ODOT Saelens, B. AJPH 2003

20. Walkable Neighborhoods encourage more walking Older women who live within walking distance of trails, parks or stores recorded significantly higher pedometer readings than women who did not. The more destinations that were close by, the more they walked. Photo: Michael Ronkin, ODOT King, W.C. AJPH 2003

21. Safety and Weather: surprisingly weak evidence A literature review of health research found little association between crime rates or poor weather and sedentary lifestyles. Photo: Michael Ronkin, ODOT Humpel, N. Am. J. of Preventive Medicine 2002

22. Designing for Active Transportation • Proximity: Are there places nearby to walk to? • Connectivity: Are there safe and direct ways to make the trip?

23. ProximityPeople are more likely to commute to work on foot or via bicycle if they: • live in a city center • live close to a non-residential building • live very close to a grocery or drug store and • have good access to public transportation. Cervero, R. Transportation Research Record 2001

24. ConnectivityPeople living in areas where more of the street network is a grid take more trips on foot. Illustration: Frank, LD “Health & Community Design” Greenwald, M.J. Transportation Research Record 2001

25. The impact of facilities is less clear in the research A North Carolina study found that the presence of sidewalks, trails, and street lights had little impact on recreational physical activity. Huston, S. Am. J. Health Promotion, 2003

26. Walkable neighborhoods encourage trips by bike & foot People in traditional neighborhoods are more likely to walk to nearby shops. Handy, S.L. Transportation Research Record 1996

27. What about self-selection? • People shift some trips to transit, bicycling, and walking when they move into more walkable neighborhoods. • One-third of residents in sprawling parts of Atlanta would prefer to live in a more walkable neighborhood. Krizek, K.J. Transportation Research Record 2000 Frank, L.D. www.smartraq.net 2003

28. Walkable neighborhoods have a positive impact on health Middle-aged men who biked or walked to work weighed less and gained weight more slowly, whether or not they engaged in other exercise. Wagner, A. Internatl. J. of Obesity & Related Metabolic Disorders 2001

29. Walkable neighborhoods have a positive impact on health On average, walkable neighborhoods encourage 15-30 extra minutes of walking per week, enough to lose a pound a year. Saelens, B.E. Annals of Behavioral Medicine 2003

30. Active Living Research Supports research to learn how we can change the design of communities, parks, and buildings to make it easier for people to lead active lives.

31. Active Living Research A project of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

32. Active Living Research • Measurement • of the environment • of activity • Cross-sectional Research • comparing places • Longitudinal Research • Change over time • Effectiveness of interventions

33. Supported Research: Measurement • How do you measure and record the elements that encourage physical activity? • What elements make a street walkable? • What technology can be used for accurate data collection?

34. Supported Research: Environment & Policy What types of communities support active living? What types of parks and trails best support active living? What is the impact of the environment on children and people with low incomes?

35. Supported Research: Effective Interventions What happens when people move to a more walkable community? Are educational interventions more successful in activity-friendly environments?

36. Supported Research: Leveraging Existing Studies Adding an international land-use component to the International Physical Activity Prevalence Study. Adding an environmental component to several ongoing U.S. physical activity studies.

37. Upcoming Research Areas • Case studies • Policy research • The process of policy change

38. The potential to increase active transportation • More than one-quarter of trips in urban areas are a mile or less • Half of all trips are less than three miles. National Household Travel Survey

39. For More Information www.activelivingresearch.org www.bmccann.net