Alberta Centre for Active Living
Note: where possible, we provide the DOI link to research
papers in the Info Round-Up. To use it,
cut and paste the DOI into the text box on this webpage: http://dx.doi.org/. Access to research articles will be dependent
on your institutional rights.
ACTIVE TRANSPORTATION
Vancouver could become North
America’s cycling capital, reveals the European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF).
This report describes methods
for evaluating non-motorized transport (walking, cycling, and their variants)
benefits and costs, including direct benefits to users from improved walking
and cycling conditions, and various benefits to society from increased
non-motorized travel activity, reduced automobile travel, and support for more
compact land use development. It identifies various types of benefits and
costs, and describes methods for measuring them.
The German Institute of Urban
Affairs has developed one of Europe’s largest databases on cycling literature.
As of May 2012, the database contains over 2100 literature sources, of which
1.100 can be downloaded. Most literature is in German with 20% in English and
French or at the very least with an English summary.
This report, published by the (UK) Department for Transport,
presents an evaluation of the Cycling City and Towns (CCT) program. It
investigates the potential for delivering public health benefits through
increasing cycling among different population groups….. If all of these
individuals moved one category up the physical activity index through cycling,
there would be an estimated 300 fewer deaths per year across the CCTs.
At military installations,
suburban-style sprawl is out and walkable communities are in, under new Defense
Department planning guidelines released Thursday. The guidelines call for
'compact development' that incorporates mass transit and a mix of residential
housing close to shops and other businesses…..
This describes the impacts of
the Neighborhood Smart Trips program on travel behavior based on comprehensive
travel surveys. The results indicate that the program resulted in significant
shifts from driving to walking, cycling and public transit travel, resulting in
a 15% reduction in per capita vehicle travel (from 11.4 to 9.7 average daily
miles) by program participants.
Many people believe that
non-motorized modes (walking, cycling, and their variants) have less right to
use public roads than motorists, based on assumptions that motor vehicle travel
is more important than non-motorized travel and motor vehicle user fees finance
roads. This report investigates these assumptions. It finds that non-motorized
modes have clear legal rights to use public roads……..
In Japan, they call it shinrin-yoku – literally, “forest
bathing.” Here, we might just call it a walk in the park. Either way, people
around the world have an intuitive sense of the restorative power of natural
environments. The question is: Why? (see Mental Health below for link to
journal article).
CHILDREN
The 2012 AHKC Report Card on Physical Activity for
Children and Youth reports that Canadian children and youth are not playing
enough; assigning an “F” grade for Active Play and Leisure.
Obesity Reviews.(2011) 3, 205-216
Health Evidence Review Rating of 9 or strong
MENTAL HEALTH
Journal of Affective Disorders Available online 30 March
2012 In Press, Corrected Proof
This study aimed to explore whether walking in nature may
be beneficial for individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD)… These
findings extend earlier work demonstrating the cognitive and affective benefits
of interacting with nature to individuals with MDD.
OLDER ADULTS
BioMed Central Geriatrics 2012, 12:20
doi:10.1186/1471-2318-12-20
Recognizing that depression among older adults is a public
health problem, and that social interaction has the potential to help alleviate
depression, a research team looked to seniors centers as places that could
promote social support…. Acknowledging that the intervention “failed to meet
optimistic targets, but possibly met quite modest ones,” the authors wrote that
“for the depressed, more specialized programs to cope with depression may be a
more appropriate intervention.”
Contemporary community design practice has focused on
strategies intended to make communities safe for families with children.
Comparatively little attention has been given to its effects on older adults…..
Intersections, strip commercial uses, big-box stores, and arterial
thoroughfares pose crash hazards for older motorists, while big-box stores and
arterials are problematic for older pedestrians.
Health & Place Volume 18, Issue 4, July 2012, Pages
869–876
We examined the relationships between perceptions of
neighbourhood characteristics and satisfaction with participation in everyday
activities among 248 older adults with chronic health conditions in Hamilton,
Ontario, Canada.
This special collection summary brings together a
selection of Cochrane Reviews assessing the benefits of physical activity and
exercise on the health and well-being of older people, such as impacts on
physical function, muscle strength, balance and bone health, and cognitive
function and sleep. The physical activity and exercise programs included in
these reviews range from leisure activities and simple home exercise programs
to intensive and supervised clinically based programs.
OVERWEIGHT/OBESITY
The report describes the influences of parental, family
and neighbourhood factors on children's overweight/obesity and levels of
physical activity and sedentary behavior. It found that:
·
22% of children at age six were classified as
overweight or obese, and 9% were obese.
·
15% of children exercised for less than the
recommended one hour per day, while a third had three or more hours of screen
time on a typical weekday.
PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
American Journal of Preventive Medicine Volume 42, Issue
6, June 2012, Pages 571–578
Results: Commuting distance was negatively associated
with physical activity and CRF and positively associated with BMI, waist
circumference, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and continuous metabolic
score in fully adjusted linear regression models
Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism (2012)
doi: 10.1139/h2012-061
The purpose of this study was to provide a contemporary
estimate of the health care cost of physical inactivity in Canadian adults. The
health care cost was estimated using a prevalence-based approach. The estimated
direct, indirect, and total health care costs of physical inactivity in Canada
in 2009 were $2.4 billion, $4.3 billion, and $6.8 billion, respectively. These
values represented 3.8%, 3.6%, and 3.7% of the overall health care costs.
J Natl Cancer Inst (2012)
doi: 10.1093/jnci/djs207
A review of 45 observational studies and randomized
controlled trials conducted among cancer survivors was followed by an analysis
of the relationship between physical activity and mortality and/or cancer
biomarkers.…. In 27 observational studies, physical activity was associated in
reduced risk for death for survivors of breast cancer and colon cancer.
The PAL is staffed by national, CSEP Certified Exercise
Physiologists®, who have undergraduate and/or graduate degrees in exercise
science and advanced training in clinical exercise prescription. We look forward to working hard to assist you
in increasing your (or your clients) health through physical activity
education, prescription, motivation, and continuous positivity.
A research unit based out of the University of British
Columbia (UBC).
RESEARCH STUFF
PHEnex publishes empirical, theoretical, and methodological
research, and position papers, as well as reviews and critical essays by
Canadian and International authors. Research methodologies may be quantitative,
qualitative or mixed method and may use data gathered through historical
analysis, surveys, fieldwork, action research, participant observation, content
analysis, simulations or experience. Articles most appropriate for PHEnex focus
on pedagogical, social, cultural, philosophical, psychological, historical,
sociological or management issues in physical education, health, dance,
recreation, or leisure studies.
Psychological Science April 30, 2012
doi: 10.1177/0956797611436349
Marketers, take note. An appeal to personality is likely to
be more successful than an appeal to a demographic group (age alone, for
example)…… A group of 324 people looked at five different versions of an
advertisement for a cell phone. The message on each ad was written to appeal to
one of the “Big Five” personality traits. For example, the advertisement tailored to
extraverts included the line “With XPhone, you’ll always be where the
excitement is.” For neurotics, the same line read, “Stay safe and secure with
the XPhone.”
URBAN DESIGN
This issue focuses on use of geographic information
systems to quantify the relationships between community design and physical
activity.
This study found that roads in more compact urban
neighborhoods had considerably less traffic congestion despite many times
higher densities, than in suburban neighborhoods. This appears to result from
more mixed land use which reduces travel distances, more transit and
nonmotorized travel, fewer vehicle miles of travel (VMT), and more connected
streets which allows for better channeling of traffic and enables walking.
This entertaining animated (16 minute) video explains how
past transport and land use policies contribute to sprawl and automobile
dependency, the problems that result, and how smart growth policy reforms can
create better communities. It is a good introduction to urban planning issues
for a general audience.
WOMEN
Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation recently released
their Welcome women Welcome change report which highlights the potential for
sports clubs to engage the female market. It describes how women currently view
sports clubs and outlines the key features social and recreational participants
want out of a club. The report also gives recommendations how best to attract
and engage female members.
WORKPLACE
Is your business active, dynamic and fun? Do your
employees value transportation options and living an active lifestyle? If so,
the Bicycle Friendly Business program wants to recognize you! Businesses use
this program for recognition, guidance and benchmarking…..
No comments:
Post a comment