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.
Welcome to the final Info Round-Up for 2012. We’ll be taking
a couple weeks off for the holidays. From all of us here at the Centre, we'd
like to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy
and Healthy New Year!
ACTIVE TRANSPORTATION
This study by the Oregon Transportation
Research and Education Consortium indicates that shoppers who arrive by
walking, cycling or public transport tend to spend less per trip but make more
trips per month and so spend more in total than automobile shoppers.
The latest Travel Actively report from the Active Travel
Consortium, More people more active, shows that over the last four years two
million people have been encouraged to be more active by walking and cycling
for everyday journeys.
This Australian checklist is
designed to help suburbs improve cycling conditions. It enables planners to
make sure new sub-divisions meet current planning and engineering requirements.
If you missed a breakout
session, or are interested in what Pro Walk/Pro Bike 2012 was all about, you
can now view PDFs of many sessions.
In Jeff Speck's excellent new
book, Walkable City, he suggests that there are ten keys to creating
walkability. Most of them also have something to do with redressing the
deleterious effects caused by our allowing cars to dominate urban spaces for
decades.
This is the final version of the
draft guidance from May 2012. The National Institute for Health and Clinical
Excellence (NICE) has produced new guidance urging people to travel on foot or
bike rather than by car for short journeys.
In the wake of Hurricane Sandy,
bicycles played a few key roles in recovery and morale boosting. On the Lower East Side of New York,
volunteers generated electricity with their bikes, offering free cell phone
charging….. bicycles were an important source of transportation when roads and
trains were blocked and out of commission to cars.
A move to make urban centres more pedestrian friendly leads to economic
benefits.
David Israelson - Special to The Globe and Mail
David Israelson - Special to The Globe and Mail
CHILDREN
Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport In Press,
Corrected Proof
Studies on independent mobility suggested that children who
have the freedom to play outdoors and travel actively without adult supervision
accumulate more physical activity than those who do not. Further investigation
of children's active travel to leisure-related destinations, measurement of
diverse sedentary behavior beyond simply screen-based activities, and
consistent thresholds for objectively measured sedentary behavior in children
will clarify the inconsistent evidence base on associations of active travel
with sedentary behavior and weight status.
Sustrans has released a report calling for the (UK) Government
to introduce more stringent measures in schools to encourage children to cycle
more. Currently, just 2% of children cycle regularly, despite the
recommendations from health experts that the easiest way to increase activity
in children is to include walking and cycling in their daily routine.
His knowledge and skills are so deep that I would say that
Marco has “mastered” his neighborhood, both geographically and socially. That
feels very good for an eight-year-old kid.
The Welsh Government is placing a duty on local
authorities to assess the sufficiency of play and recreational opportunities
for children in their areas. It sets out criteria for assessing play
opportunities in each local authority area including audits of open spaces,
play and recreation provision, traffic, transport and community initiatives. The
assessments will be used to develop local authority action plans to improve
play opportunities for all children across Wales. The deadline for the
completion of assessments is 1 March 2013.
The National Center for Safe Routes to School is pleased
to announce the release of an online audio/video training program that provides
strategies and tips for planning a Walking School Bus program.
CHRONIC DISEASE
Journal of Sport and Health Science In Press, Uncorrected
Proof
The beneficial effects of increased PA and decreased
sedentary behavior are extremely important in youth with diabetes because of
the markedly increased long-term risk of cardiovascular disease in this
population compared to persons without diabetes. This review aims to
comprehensively summarize the epidemiologic, observational research published
and listed in PubMed between 1970 and 2012….
Diabetologia Nov 2012, Volume 55, Issue 11, pp 2895-2905
Sedentary time is associated with an increased risk of
diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular and all-cause mortality;
the strength of the association is most consistent for diabetes.
COMMUNITY
This paper outlines the broad roles of municipal recreation
(II), the roles that it can and does play in supporting sport (III), the key
shifts in sport in terms of policy and focus (IV), the nature of the
partnership and common challenges (V), and key areas in which collaborative approaches
may take place (VI).
Discusses the importance of interpretive signage in parks
and provides examples of signs for different purposes. Tips on wording, photos
and installation are provided.
DISABILITY/ACCESSIBILITY
APAQ Volume 30, Issue 1, pgs 40-58 Jan 2013
The participants with relatively minor degrees of
disability and with the least visible disabilities were the ones who most often
reported negative experiences regarding PE. This suggests the experiences were
not generated solely by the actual physical or sensory limitations, but equally
by how well the participants’ challenges were understood by their teachers and
to what degree adaptations were implemented.
HEALTH GENERAL
In February 2009, the Ministry of Health launched the NSW
Get Healthy Information and Coaching Service®, as part of New South Wales’
response to the Australian Better Health Initiative. The GHS is a telephone
based service supporting NSW adults make sustained improvements in healthy
eating, physical activity and achieving or maintaining a healthy weight.
OBESITY/OVERWEIGHT
Produced by the Canadian Obesity Network this is a set of
practical tools to guide primary care practitioners in obesity counseling and
management.
OLDER ADULTS
An active lifestyle helps preserve gray matter in the brains
of older adults and could reduce the burden of dementia and Alzheimer's disease
(AD), according to a study presented today at the annual meeting of the
Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation In
Press, Accepted Manuscript
The multifaceted fall prevention program with exercise
intervention improved functional performance at 3-months for community-dwelling
elders with risk of fall, but did not reduce falls over 1-year follow-up. Fall
incidence might have been decreased simultaneously in both groups by heightened
awareness engendered during assessments, education, referrals, and
recommendations.
In an age-friendly community, there are walking trails
with hard-pack surfaces, suitable for a walker or a baby stroller. There might
be lights for nighttime safety, and benches for a quick rest. The benches would
have armrests to aid the user in getting up or down.
Journal of the American Medical Directors Association In
Press, Corrected Proof
Among the oldest old, not only continuing but also becoming
physically active is associated with reduced health service use. Initiating PA
among the very old should be encouraged.
Performed by residents of the Waverly Retirement
Residence London, Ontario.
PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
This report outlines the evidence that exists showing how
more physical activity can have beneficial effects on society. It contains
chapters on physical health, mental health, education and employment,
antisocial behaviour and crime and social cohesion.
International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and
Physical Activity Vol 9 Iss 52 2012
This Health Evidence report gives this paper a review
quality rating of 7 (moderate).
This briefing summarizes NICE's recommendations for local
authorities and partner organizations on how to encourage people to be
physically active. It is particularly relevant to health and wellbeing boards.
Of interest to note is this related page: Public health
guidances in development
RURAL
"This program builds on the Small Communities Transit
Fund launched in 2010, making $1 million in federal Gas Tax funding available
to cost-share active transportation projects with eligible municipalities over
the next two years," said the Honourable Ron Lemieux, Local Government
Minister.
URBAN DESIGN
This new report by Reconnecting America describes why and
how to create more complete communities where everybody, including non-drivers,
has convenient access to services and activities. It defines and discusses
various accessibility indicators and defines “Opportunity Areas,” based on
whether a neighborhood achieves walkability and density thresholds needed for a
complete, multi-modal community.
This study indicates that during the 2007-2012 period
houses located in more accessible and multi-modal neighborhoods exhibited
greater price stability than those located in lower-density,
automobile-dependent suburbs.
This report discusses reasons to implement complete
streets and how it relates to other planning innovations. Complete streets can
provide many direct and indirect benefits including improved accessibility for
non-drivers, user savings and affordability, energy conservation and emission
reductions, improved community livability, improved public fitness and health,
and support for strategic development objectives such as urban redevelopment
and reduced sprawl.
Aging population, rising fuel prices, increasing
urbanization, improving travel options, increasing health and environmental
concerns, and changing consumer preferences are reducing demand for automobile
travel and increasing demand for alternatives. Automobile travel will not
disappear but at the margin (compared with current travel patterns) many people
would prefer to drive less and rely more on walking, cycling, public transport
and telework, provided they are convenient, comfortable and affordable. This
paper discusses ways that transport policies and planning practices can respond
to these changing demands.
The Healthy Built Environments Program has completed a
major scholarly literature review examining the role of the built environment
in supporting human health as part of everyday living. The principal aim of the
Review is to establish an evidence base that supports the development,
prioritisation and implementation of healthy built environment policies and
practices. The Review identifies current gaps in the evidence to inform future
research directions. It includes an annotated bibliography of key research
articles and a glossary of terms…….
WORKPLACE
Active employees are productive employees. The tools and
resources found here are designed to encourage physical activity in the
workplace. This is an Australian resource that references the Centre’s
Workplace Audit Tool.
No comments:
Post a Comment