Report - Physical inactivity causes 10% of all worldwide deaths

CNN reports that a report series in The Lancet notes that physical inactivity is just as deadly as smoking or obesity. (Obviously the latter and physical inactivity are also linked.) If inactivity rates drop by 10-20%, then anything between one half to 1.3 million lives can be saved annually worldwide. The authors consider such inactivity to be equivalent to a pandemic.

In the third article of the series, Gregory Heath of the University of Tennessee wrote that "Because even moderate physical activity such as walking and cycling can have substantial health benefits, understanding strategies that can increase these behaviors in different regions and cultures has become a public health priority," and that improvements in mass transit and the walking and cycling environment can produce real benefits. As has been previously mentioned, we have engineered much physical activity out of our lives, but we can reverse the trend. Support for improved cycling and walking infrastructure in our communities have the following beneficial effects.

1. Improved health,
2. Decreased cost - I had mentioned that a car cost $11-$22 per day
3. Improved environment,
4. Decreased congestion,
5. Improved community, with people being more neighborly and social,
6. and Decreased dependence on foreign oil.

And all of these benefits take place at the same time making such investments a wise use of resources, provided that the money allocated for such is spent wisely.

Getting and staying fit with help

(Photograph courtesy of Wikipedia: picture may be reproduced and modified provided that this copyright notice is included.) This tip from Realage.com points to the benefits of walking with a dog. Currently, 61% of dog owners walk their dogs regularly. When one has a dog that has to be walked, one gets one's exercise as the dog gets its exercise. Walking the dog is also a great treat for it, and people with dogs tend to become more physically active than those who don't.

Speaking of which, dogs can be walked in a variety of environments. Anywhere from an urban sidewalk to a suburban low-traffic neighborhood make good places to walk for exercise. Greenways are another popular option, although care needs to be taken to ensure that a leash is not too long or too thin. A leash that is too long can make the dog's path of travel unpredictable to passersby, and a leash that is too thin can be hard for other walkers and cyclists to see.

UnitedHealthcare - Half the Country to have diabetes or prediabetes by 2020

This report states that if current trends continue, half the United States population will have type 2 diabetes or prediabetes by the year 2020. Not only is such a life limiter, but it would also be a tremendous waste of money. In 2009, the average health-care cost of a diabetic person was $11,700 versus $4,400 for everyone else, and was $20,700 for diabetes with complications. The report notes that the overall monetary cost of the diabetes/prediabetes comes out to $3.35 trillion over ten years.

So, what do these facts have to do with biking and walking? Actually a lot. Often people with prediabetes can make their metabolism revert to healthy levels through increased physical activity, and the loss of excess weight. Walking and biking can be great ways to work in such physical activity, whether as part of an exercise routine or as part of everyday transportation. The construction of complete streets would make such a realistic option for more people, and isn't really so expensive when these health costs are considered. As mentioned previously on this blog, a representative once asked how many people are currently driving to a gym in order to ride a stationary bike?

Job Opportunity - Knox County Health Department

(Information quoted from League of American Bicyclists Email)
The Knox County Health Department is seeking a Health Planner to lead projects focused on the built environment and health.

The application is available here. Deadline is January 28.

Knoxville News Sentinel Editorial - Tennesseans can walk away from obesity

In an editorial Friday, the Knoxville News Sentinel noted that healthy lifestyles are not inherited, and that Tennessee ranks second in the nation (tied with Alabama) for obesity rates. A new free program by the Knoxville Track Club seeks to get people walking rather than running, meeting every Tuesday and Thursday evening at 6:30 PM at Cherokee Blvd. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee is also encouraging school walking programs.

New Virginia anti-cul-de-sac policy

This artcle from the Washington Post describes Virginia's new rule on cul-de-sacs; any new subdivision must have "through streets linking them with neighboring subdivisions, schools and shopping areas." The article goes into quite a bit of detail on the pros and cons of the cul-de-sac setup. Basically the pros are a quieter environment for those living on it, and possibly some increase in safety since anyone who's not from a neighborhood will look out of place within it. The cons are increased traffic, which leads to increased paving costs, not to mention the isolation and car dependence such setups foster. The increased traffic gets jammed onto arterial roads, which then become unsafe and/or gridlocked. In addition, they tend to isolate neighborhoods from each other, leading to a loss of a sense of community.

Chuck Anderton - Bike/Walk Commuter

There was an article in the August 2, 2010 edition of the Bearden West Side Shopper-News (online edition not available) about Chuck Anderton, who is an electrical engineer at KUB (Knoxville Utilities Board) in downtown Knoxville. He has "walked, run, or biked" to work for the past 42 years, and his last sick day was in 1981. His commute ranged from 1 to 7 miles each way, depending on where he lived. He bikes from April to September, where there is light both ways. The other days he tends to walk, even though it does take a while. Needless to say, he's a very healthy individual.

One of the big draws of urban living is being close to most of the things going on, and of having an easy, short commute. Interestingly, truly urban areas have bikes and cars move at roughly equal speeds which means that facilities such as bike lanes are unneeded in such areas. For instance, Gay St in downtown Knoxville is considered one of the finest places to ride.

Walk Your Way to Nicer Teeth - Realage article

A recent realage article located here suggests that those who are active walking tend to not only have better cardiovascular health, but also better dental health. The cause may be that active walkers have less inflammation, which leads to healthier teeth.

As mentioned previously, walking is an excellent way to travel short distances. It does not require any special equipment, and can be very relaxing. Designing streets so that they are easily walkable would go a long way toward encouraging this most basic form of transport.

Reasons to support biking and walking for almost all political philosophies

With the recent article claiming that (paraphrasing) cyclists are part of a communist plot to turn the country into a third world country, I thought I would list the reasons why it makes sense from a variety of political sides to support cycling and walking. Sure, that article was extreme, but more moderate variants of such are not unheard of.

Correlations between obesity and driving, and others

GOOD Magazine recently published a table ranking all 50 states and Washington DC in terms of actual levels of driving, walking, cycling, mass transit usage, and levels of obesity. From their table, I plotted all 10 possible correlations of the variables with each other. Note that the driving rank and obesity rank is opposite that of the other things; i.e. a driving rank of 1 means little driving, while a walking rank of 1 means lots of walking. An obesity rank of 1 means low levels of obesity (in this data, Colorado). Our state is indicated with the extra large marker in these plots.

The strongest correlation is between walking and driving, and is depicted here. The more people drive, the less people walk.

How Healthy is Your County?

Tennessee routinely ranks near the bottom of all States in health matters. However, where you live in Tennessee matters. Click here for more info.