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
As cities
around the country are making significant investments in pedestrian, bicycling
and transit infrastructure, cycling, especially is on the rise. Many other
cities, large and small, are eyeing this success and are recognizing the
potential of cycling as a viable mode of transportation for their communities…….
Mobilians
suffer from poor mental and physical health in large part because the city's
built environment is not conducive to being active... 'If the city were serious
about improving the lives of its residents …. it would put resources into
improving the ability of residents to move about without the use of a car,' Dr.
Perkins said..."
In a bit of news that's bound to add
some perspective to your local battles, Saudi Arabia this week lifted the ban
on public biking for women, sort of….. Saudi
Arabia's Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice
overturned a previous ban on cycling and motorbiking for women. The ruling
stipulates that women must wear a full-body abaya, be accompanied by a male
relative, and stay within certain areas. They are allowed to bike for
recreational purposes only, not as a primary mode of transportation
UWalk is
focused on empowering people to be active through walking. Walk to decrease
tension, improve your mood, keep you energized and can boost your
self-confidence.
The Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) within the Department of Health and Human
Services announced the opening of a docket to obtain information from the
public on walking as an effective way to be sufficiently active for health. The
information obtained will be used to frame an anticipated Surgeon General's
call to action on this issue.
HEALTH GENERAL
Many data tables here addressing fitness
(grip strength, curl ups, back fitness, sit and reach, aerobic fitness and
more). During CHMS cycle 2, physical measurements were collected in 18 sites
across Canada from 6,395 people representing the Canadian population aged 3 to
79. Collection started in August 2009 and continued until November 2011.
Since last August, East Palo Alto police
officers have led exercise activities, from bicycle rides and walking groups to
volleyball and Zumba, in two designated "hotspot" neighborhoods with
the highest levels of crime. "We wanted to get people out of their homes and
into their neighborhoods, to engage them in healthy activities," said East
Palo Alto Captain Federico Rocha. "Not only could this positively impact
their health, but by getting out, they'd also be taking back their
neighborhoods."
MENTAL HEALTH
Canadian Journal on Aging Vol 32 Iss 01
March 2013, pp 1-12
Among a group of 549 adults in Canada,
social participation and time spent walking were analyzed. The people who did
not walk outside their homes had more depressive symptoms. There was no
significant association with social participation. The authors noted that the
“study highlights the central role played by life habits, such as walking, in
older adults’ mental health status.”
OBESITY/OVERWEIGHT
European Journal of Preventive
Cardiology April 10, 2013
doi: 10.1177/2047487313485512
The authors concluded that “the lifelong
exposure to especially obesity will increase. As a consequence, more elderly of
the future will develop overweight-related diseases such as diabetes and
cardiovascular disease.”
OLDER ADULTS
JAMA Intern Med. 2013;():1-8.
doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.359
An intensive and long-term exercise
program had beneficial effects on the physical functioning of patients with
Alzheimer’s disease without increasing the total costs of health and social
services or causing any significant adverse effects.
Geriatrics & Gerontology
International Vol 13, Iss 2, pgs 322–328, April 2013
DOI: 10.1111/j.1447-0594.2012.00899.x
The objective of this study was to
investigate the effects of resistance training in activities of daily living
performance in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients…. We observed significant
differences between the groups in moving around the house, climbing stairs,
standing up from the floor and putting on socks tests.
PLoS ONE 8(3):e59649.
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0059649
It seems that both enriching mental
activity and physical exercise may be very important factors,” said Scientia
Professor Perminder S. Sachdev, MD, PhD, who is co-Director of the Centre for
Healthy Brain Ageing, University of New South Wales. “Some people may still go
on to develop dementia eventually. It’s a matter of how long they can keep it
at bay. For this reason it’s important for people to know that they can improve
the quality of their life for some time through exercise and good health care.”
To use the cane for navigation, you or a
loved one first programs the route into a piece of software on your computer.
The cane then displays arrows on the handle to guide you in the right direction
as you walk….. There are various sensors built-in including a step counter that
records the number of times the cane is tapped against the ground as you walk.
And there's a temperature and humidity sensor….. The heart rate sensor works
out how your ticker is doing when you press your thumb over a sensor on the
handle.…..
PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
Developed to assist researchers wanting to
derive physical activity and sedentary behaviour variables from Actical
accelerometer data in a way that is consistent with the Canadian Health
Measures Survey.
Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics
Available online 10 April 2013
The PAR-Q results were not influenced by
low educational status; age, or cognitive state. In conclusion, although the
usefulness and easy applicability of the PAR-Q's questions, the responses to
the questionnaire led to a high number of false positive and false negative
cases, suggesting that it would not be adequate as a pre-participation
screening tool in elder samples.
Brisk walking reduced coronary heart
disease by 9.3% compared to 4.5% for runners; walking significantly reduced the
risk for first-time hypertension by 7.2% compared to 4.2% for runners. Both
walking and running reduce the risk of first-time diabetes and high cholesterol.
Read this article from The Conversation
about the important role of physical activity in assisting cancer treatments,
as well as reducing the risk of developing many cancers.
URBAN DESIGN
Does your neighbourhood have easy, equal
access or opportunity for most residents to walk and be physically active? If
not, there are many ways you can be involved to help make this happen.
Applied Geography Volume 41, July 2013,
Pages 1–14
This research uses street connectivity,
defined as the number of (3-way or more) intersections per area unit, as a
proxy measure for walkability in a neighborhood, and then examines its
association with physical inactivity and obesity in the U.S. while controlling
for various individual- and county-level socio-demographic variables.
Public Health Available online 12 April
2013
Neighbourhood green space was related to
better cardiovascular and mental health in a New Zealand Health Survey,
independent of individual risk factors. Although physical activity was higher
in greener neighbourhoods, it did not fully explain the green space and health
relationship.
WOMEN
This report, describes a one-year study
designed to capture the perspectives of girls on what they get from girls’
groups and to compare what they say with known promising practices in
sex/gender specific health promotion, as identified by the literature.
doi: 10.1097/GME.0b013e3182844110
Symptom of menopause experienced by
women in midlife include difficulty sleeping and night sweats (nocturnal hot
flashes). Daytime exercise is recommended to help women sleep….
WORKPLACE
Journal of Physical Activity and Health,
2013, In Press
The notion of presenteeism, defined as a
reduced ability to work productively, is a concept of interest in workplace
health promotion and incurs far greater costs than those for absenteeism.
Presenteeism may be of particular interest to physical activity researchers and
program implementers given known links between physical activity and health,
and health and presenteeism.
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