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
This new UK briefing
document from Walking for Health is designed to make the case for walking
schemes and highlight the health benefits they can provide, especially to the
least active
CHILDREN
As one of the large industry partners
for First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s
Move! Active Schools initiative, Nike has pledged $50 million dollars to
help get the effort off the ground.
Parachute Canada – Traffic Safety PSA’s
Low participation in moderate-to-vigorous
physical activity, prolonged sitting, and other sedentary behaviours negatively
influence human health. Interrupting prolonged periods of inactivity with short
bouts of physical activity of 10 minutes or more is one way of meeting daily
physical activity recommendations. The aim was to identify publications of
organization-based interventions (e.g., school-based, workplace-based or
faith-based) which incorporated short, structured physical activity breaks
which lasted 20 minutes or less.
CHRONIC DISEASE
This strategy is being launched to coincide with The Lancet
publication showing the UK’s relatively poor mortality rates and the Department
of Health’s call to action to the health and care system to improve mortality
rates across the board. (physical activity is mentioned 15 times)
CONFERENCES
… will be held in Québec City, Canada on
9-11 September 2013. The Conference welcomes participants with an interest in
population ageing, including policy makers, practitioners from the health
social and community service sectors, urban planning and academia.
Calgary 27 – 30 October 3013
Sustainable mobility requires an
integrated suite of safe, convenient and accessible travel options, a compact
and mixed-use built environment, and a supportive framework of policies and
programs. It improves transportation choice, balances supply and demand, limits
environmental impacts, creates economic opportunities, and fosters partnerships
among government, business and the public.
DISABILITY/ACCESSIBILITY
Adapted PA Quarterly Volume 30, Issue 2, April pgs 127-146
The purpose of this study was to examine
the impact of an after school physical activity intervention on adolescents
with visual impairments within the context of Social Cognitive Theory.
HEALTH GENERAL
The survey looks at a number of key
health behaviours including nutrition, physical activity, smoking, alcohol,
drug use and sexual health. It investigates the patterns of these behaviours
across different stages of life including adults, pregnant women and mothers of
children under 2, young people aged 11-17 and older people aged 55+.
HEALTHY EATING
Prev Chronic Dis 2013;10:120123.
We found no strong evidence that food
outlets near homes are associated with dietary intake or BMI. We replicated
some associations reported previously but only for areas that are larger than
what typically is considered a neighborhood. A likely reason for the null
finding is that shopping patterns are weakly related, if at all, to
neighborhoods in the United States because of access to motorized
transportation.
OLDER ADULTS
Canada's senior population is growing.
This makes it more important than ever to support the health and well-being of
older Canadians. This way, seniors can lead healthy and active lives and stay
involved in their communities. Making communities "age-friendly" is
believed to be one of the best ways to do this
…. developed to assist communities to
start up, implement and evaluate their age-friendly initiative.
The guide and toolbox were developed by
the Nova Scotia Centre on Aging, Mount Saint Vincent University and the Public
Health Agency of Canada.
The notion of successful aging is an
attractive one. It speaks to quality of life while aging. Successful agers are
people who are more satisfied with life.
PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
BMJ Open 2013;3:
doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2012-002058
There is a paucity of evidence to
support the notion that hosting an Olympic games leads to an increased
participation in physical or sporting activities for host countries. We also
found little evidence to suggest other health benefits.
Prev Chronic Dis 2013;10:120276
Our findings are
consistent with literature showing that boys are more active than girls overall
and that no significant variations exist in youth by race/ethnicity (7). Among
adults, we found no disparity by sex in MVPA levels overall, but, like other
researchers, we found that whites were more likely to be engaged in park MVPA
than minorities (8). Our findings suggest that differences in the way users
engage in MVPA at parks may be attributable to areas in the park environment,
and they have implications for how the design of park settings may help to
reinforce or, preferably, mitigate disparities in MVPA among female and
minority populations.
The purpose of this (UK) document is to
provide physical activity and health professionals, commissioners and policy
makers with the key facts to help build an economic argument for the need to
decrease levels of physical inactivity within the population. It provides the
latest health costs of inactivity, including the economic cost of inactivity
This (UK) document explains the health
and social benefits of physical activity. It summarizes evidence that can be
used to convince commissioners, policy makers, partners and funding bodies to
support physical activity programs. The document offers a one stop shop for
research that supports the use of physical activity
Study Highlights: Physically active
healthcare providers are significantly more likely to advise their patients to
be active and improving physical activity among healthcare providers could help
change behaviors among the general population.
The main physical activity statistics in
this report are taken from the most recent Health Survey for England (2008).
Other sources of physical activity information include the latest Taking Part
Survey (2012), National Travel Survey (2011), Active People Survey (2012), PE
and Sport Survey (2010) and other health and fitness surveys.
URBAN DESIGN
From Smart Growth America…. examines all
the Complete Streets policies passed in the last year and highlights some of
the best. The analysis also revealed that the Complete Streets movement grew in
2012, continuing a national trend since 2005
This article is based on the findings of
a study tour conducted late in the summer of 2012. It discusses a number of
innovations in community planning and development in Germany and Scandinavia,
identifies some of the underlying principles for the success of these
innovations, and shows that communities can be planned, designed, developed and
managed so that they can be made increasingly more livable.
Sidewalks are our neighborhood's
breadwinner, bringing vitality, safety, and economy….The sidewalk is often
overlooked. Before they were installed in cities, they were simply the areas
not defined by ruts in the road.
How does a neighbourhood that is
intersected by a number of arterial roads tie itself together to create a
livable, walkable community? Are arterials just a necessary evil that have to
be tolerated, as is, or are there adaptations that can allow for real
communities to flourish along them?
WORKPLACE
While employers generally had a holistic
view of health, their understanding of workplace health promotion was limited,
with few mentioning the importance of a health promoting work environment or
the role of workplace policies in promoting health.
Modern life is unrelentingly busy and
studies of Canadian social trends show that the time crunch is, in fact,
getting worse. More of us are spending increasingly longer hours on the job,
and more time commuting to and from work. If adults are spending more time at
work, then one logical solution to the inactivity crisis is to fit short bouts
of physical activity into our daily workplace routine. But can that really
work?
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