being active and healthy in suburbia

ATTRIBUTE #8 - Because of attributes #1,#5 and #6, suburbia creates a relatively sedentary lifestyle, which has serious health implications for us individually and for our society.


What have the suburbs got to do with being active or not?

As a society we have engineered active choices out of everyday living.   

Service industries continue to grow for activities that people used to do themselves such as car washing, house cleaning, dog walking and lawn mowing. 

We have easy access to prepared meals, dishwashers and remote controls. We have the internet and computer games. We shop for recreation.

There are benefits to all this, but the downside is that many people have lost the time and energy, and even the reason, to be active.

The term 'Active living' refers to opportunities for incorporating physical activity into the routines of daily life as well as for sport and recreation. Examples of active living include; walking or cycling with children to school; walking, cycling or catching public transport to work or replacing short car trips to corner shops and parks by walking or cycling.

Source : "Why Active Living - A health, Economic, Environmental and Social Solution" Premiers Council for Active Living, NSW 2010


connection with the built-environment

The location and the way we live has a LOT to do with how active we are. The proximity of our house to where we need to be, significantly influences how will travel to get there. Could I walk there? Can I do other things on the way there? 

To put it simply, most people are less physically active than they used to be. Only half the NSW population meets the recommended level of at least 30 minutes of physical activity on most days of the week required to obtain health benefits. 

Just over 50 percent of the population does enough physical activity each week. If the proportion could be raised to 70 per cent, that would save 2000 lives a year throughout Australia – equivalent to stopping all deaths on Australian roads, and more.

Source : Centre for Epidemiology and Research. 2008 Report on Adult Health from the 2004 New South Wales Population Health Survey. NSW Department of Health, 2009

So lets turn this to a positive and put it simply : Incorporating activity in your day is good for you. 


Its most useful, and perhaps easiest to understand the connection between activity and suburbia, if we first look at why inactivity is on the rise.


SO WHY AREN'T WE MORE ACTIVE?

There are many reasons that we are not more active. Three groups of factors are important – factors to do with the physical environment, the social environment and the individual. These are clearly interrelated and interdependent in complex ways:
    • Physical environment: The footpaths and streets, walking and cycling trails, parks and beaches, and recreation facilities such as swimming pools, ovals and sports centres
    • Social environment :  includes things like having someone to be active with, being involved in a sport or recreation club, or even owning a dog
    • The individual : These factors may be the most influential of all – such as understanding the benefits of moderate intensity physical activity, cultural attitudes, skills, self belief and perceptions of the benefits of being active
Source : "Why Active Living - A health, Economic, Environmental and Social Solution" Premiers Council for Active Living, NSW 2010

At Shaping Suburbia, we are interested in the first two of these three factors. The physical environment (i.e. the built environment) and the social environment that is in part created by the built-environment that we live in.


"Being active is good for our health and our economy. It also has real benefits for our communities and for us as individuals. Active communities are more connected, participate more in community activities, are more productive, and reduce the environmental impacts of car dependence. 

Active Living also reduces the risk of diseases such as cardiovascular disease, type II diabetes, colon and breast cancer, depression and falls. The direct costs attributable to physical inactivity of these conditions is more than $1.5 billion nationally a year."

Source : "Why Active Living" PCAL http://www.pcal.nsw.gov.au
/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/95698/Why_ACtive_Living_Statement-_low_res_21_06_10.pdf

BENEFITS OF AN ACTIVE LIFE

There are lots of ways of being active.  Its no news to anyone that we chould all go to the gym more often, but having an active life or "active living" is a way of integrating the activity we can all benefit from into your every day life. 

Simple things such as walking to the shops, cycling to work, walking to school or even catching public transport are all ways of building-in the activity as part of your day rather than adding another thing into your busy day and calling it 'exercise'.  There is a rapidly growing body of evidence which shows that being active in everyday life not only has substantial positive impacts on our individual health, but also offers environmental, social and economic benefits.


why does activity matter so much?

Inadequate physical activity is a serious health problem that results in poor health outcomes including a greater risk of obesity, heart disease, stroke, type II diabetes, colon and breast cancer, and depression. These chronic conditions impose enormous direct and indirect health costs – heart disease, stroke and type II diabetes cost well over $4 billion nationally in direct costs; obesity costs as much as $2 billion. Of these direct costs over $1.5 billion is attributable to physical inactivity.

Source : "Why Active Living - A health, Economic, Environmental and Social Solution" Premiers Council for Active Living, NSW 2010

The solution to these costs and these problems is to create supportive environments and policies so that people find it easier to incorporate physical activity into the routines of daily life.


One hundred and twenty two deaths per year from CHD, NIDDM and colon cancer could be avoided for every 1 per cent increase in the proportion of the population who achieve a level of sufficient and regular physical activity

Source : Stephenson J, Bauman A, Armstrong T, Smith B, Bellew B. The cost of illness attributable to physical inactivity in Australia- a preliminary study. Canberra: Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care and the Australian Sports Commission, 2000. http://www.health.gov.au/pubhlth/publicat/document/phys_costofillness.pdf

There are Significant health benefits in even small increases in physical activity:


Source: Bouchard C. Physical activity and health: introduction to the dose-response symposium. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 2001; 33: S347-350

More active people are happier and healthier from the day they start moving. They see doctors less often. They need less medication. They demand less of the healthcare system. They use cars less often, have less congested roads and benefit from less greenhouse emissions and air pollutants. Such people are also more likely to be both employable, reaping benefits for business, and employed, reaping tax benefits for government. The ageing of the population will be less of an issue if the ageing population is active.

Source : "Why Active Living - A health, Economic, Environmental and Social Solution" Premiers Council for Active Living, NSW 2010
Also :  Bauman A, Miller, Y. The Public Health Potential of Health Enhancing Physical Activity. Meyer & Meyer Sport (UK) Ltd, 2004.

Beyond the expected physical benefits of being active, incorporating regular activity into your day has also been shown to have a number of surprising mental benefits including reduction of the likelihood of Alzheimer's diesase.

Source : The Memory book:Everyday habits for a healthy memory Second Edition Judith Wiles & Janet Wiles
  • Increasing your walking per day decreases your likelihood of obesity

Source : Am J Prev Med 2004;27(2):87–96) © 2004 American Journal of Preventive Medicine, http://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797(04)00087-X/abstract
  • The number of nearby amenities for a location is the leading predictor of whether people will live a 'walking' lifestyle.
Source : www.walkscore.com  

  • A recent study has found that every extra hour in a car per day was associated with a 6% increase in the likelihood of obesity.  Conversely each additional kilometer walked per day was associated with a 4.8% reduction in the likelihood of obesity.
  • Strategies to increase land-use mix and distance walked while reducing time in a car can be effective as health interventions
Source : Am J Prev Med 2004;27(2):87–96) © 2004 American Journal of Preventive Medicine, http://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797(04)00087-X/abstract

  • Physical inactivity contributes to the deaths of 
    over 13,000 people a year in Australia
Source :  
Begg S, Vos T, Baker B, Stevenson C, Stanley L, Lopez AD. The Burden of Disease and 
Injury in Australia. Canberra, 2003
  

THE COSTS OF INACTIVITY
  • Inadequate physical activity is a serious health problem that results in poor health outcomes including a greater risk of obesity, heart disease, stroke, type II diabetes, colon and breast cancer, and depression. These chronic conditions impose enormous direct and indirect health costs – heart disease, stroke and type II diabetes cost well over $4 billion nationally in direct costs; obesity costs as much as $2 billion. Of these direct costs over $1.5 billion is attributable to physical inactivity.
Source : "Why Active Living - A health, Economic, Environmental and Social Solution" Premiers Council for Active Living, NSW 2010
Also : The cost of physical inactivity – What is the lack of participation in physical activity costing Australia? Medibank Private. August 2007. 
Also : The Growing Cost of Obesity in 2008: Three years on. Report by Access Economics for Diabetes Australia. 2008. Available from http://www.diabetesaustralia.com.au/Pagefiles/7832/FULLREPORTGrowingCostOFObesity2008.pdf

The solution to these problems is to create supportive environments and policies so that people find it easier to incorporate physical activity into the routines of daily life.

  • For the first time in living memory life expectancy in developed countries such as Australia may start to fall due to the obesity epidemic in children and young people
Source : Olshansky SJ et al. A potential decline in life expectancy in the United States in the 21st century. New England Journal of Medicine. 2005; 352:1138-1145

  • Many costs of inactivity are hidden, but are nonetheless real.  The indirect costs – lost productivity, time off work, lost time, loss of productivity of carers, need for adaptation of living environments – are also substantial. These figures do not include the costs associated with suffering and premature death – for heart disease these have been estimated to be $6.6 billion
Source : The shifting burden of cardiovascular disease in Australia. Report by Access Economics for the National Heart Foundation of Australia, 2005.


CONNECTING INACTIVITY TO HEALTH
  • Physical inactivity is a major contributing factor to obesity – more than a third of NSW adults are overweight, and 19 per cent are obese.
Source : Centre for Epidemiology and Research. 2008 Report on Adult Health from the 2004 New South Wales Population Healthy Survey. NSW Department of Health, 2009
  • Did you know that the average resident in a walkable neighbourhood weights 3.2kg (7 pounds) less than someone who lives in a sprawling neighbourhood?.  A recent study connects the walkability of a neighbourhood with body mass index (BMI) of the people that live there, normalised for other factors such as age,  socioeconomic status etc.
Source : http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002760245_sprawlfat24m.html
Also : "Walking, Urban Design and Health: Towards a cost benefit analysis framework"  http://jpe.sagepub.com/content/27/3/341.abstract
 
  • Approximately 25 per cent of school students are either overweight or obese – this figure has doubled in the past 20 years
Source : Schools Physical Activity and Nutrition Survey (SPANS) 2004: The Short Report. NSW Centre for Overweight and Obesity. Sydney, 2006

DEATHS DUE TO INACTIVITY
  • 6,400 deaths per annum from Coronary Heart Disease, Non-Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus, Colon cancer
  • Up to 2200 more deaths due to other conditions, including breast cancer and stroke
Source: Stephenson J, Bauman A, Armstrong T, Smith B, Bellew B. The cost of illness attributable to physical inactivity in Australia- a preliminary study. Canberra: Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care and the Australian Sports Commission, 2000. http://www.health.gov.au/pubhlth/publicat/document/phys_costofillness.pdf




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