So many things can get between our intentions and our actions. Sometimes my desire to write—even when motivated by a firm deadline—is held at bay while I adjust the blinds, make tea, boot up and log on. Things I know I should do but haven’t fully bought into can find no end of delays and reasons not to.

So it is with exercise, for many people. But even those who know how good it feels to be physically active and who earnestly seek the health benefits of a healthy lifestyle may confront circumstances that make it inordinately difficult. I’d like to explore some of those challenges and ways to address them. The goal, as always, is to help everyone enjoy appropriate physical activity throughout the lifespan.

Perhaps you grew up in a suburban house with a generous backyard. Did you have a city park nearby? I did, and I loved to ride my bike to school—all over town, in fact, as my age and my parents’ confidence in me increased. Add schoolyard play and team sports, and I burned quite a few calories with a smile on my face. Many evenings saw robust games of Kick the Can at locations throughout the neighborhood.

What about kids who have no backyard, no nearby park and inadequate school playgrounds? Team sports aren’t an option for some, with no school leagues and no minivan to the soccer field.

Opportunities for adults vary, too. Not everyone can afford to join a health club and hire a personal trainer. Rural dwellers may live miles from the nearest facility. Membership or league fees are the barrier for some—ditto the cost of sports equipment, lessons and travel. Kids in unsafe neighborhoods may be kept indoors, snacking in front of the TV or game console.

Too often, such challenges get between healthful exercise and those who could benefit from it.

Solutions

Those who advocate for health and wellness can do much to expand opportunities for physical activity and exercise. Solutions may involve working with local officials or simple, informal collaboration. For example, can school facilities be open to the community after hours? How about pitching in to make a vacant lot into a pocket park? Neighbors, merchants and volunteers can work wonders in a day. A congregation in search of an outreach project might start a soccer league, a weekly game of kickball, or a jump-rope-a-thon.

For longer-term, larger-scale solutions, look at the impact rails-to-trails projects have had in some communities. Build paths and they will come: walking, wheeling, strolling and skating their way to fitness. Zoning laws can require sidewalks in new or redeveloped neighborhoods.

While some pursuits need costly equipment (think polo, on the high end), an active life often requires nothing more than a pair of walking shoes and your imagination.

Bottom line? Being physically active is too important to health and quality of life to let some of us go without. Let’s look at what keeps people from exercise and find ways to surmount the barriers. Now, what was I saying about writer’s block?

What barriers to physical activity confront some people in your community? How can they be overcome?

www.pedbikeimages.org by Andy Hamilton

Intuitively it makes sense that creating more walkable communities will help meet the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines from Americans because walking is the most frequent form of Physical activity.  I wondered whether walkability makes a difference and which communities have tackled this issue.  I got curious about this and did a search to find out more. 

My first stop was to look into whether community design makes a difference in increasing physical activity rates.  I visited The Community Guide for Preventive Services Web site where I learned that their research confirmed the increase in community members’ physical activity levels after land use policies are put into place at the community level and even at the street level!

I also noticed that progress is being made towards meeting the Healthy People 2010 objective to increase the proportion of trips made by walking.  For adults, the objective was to increase from the baseline of 17% in 1995 to 25 percent.  As of 2001, this measure had increased to 21%.

How timely! Just when my curiosity was aroused, a colleague told me about the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center’s new recognition program, Walk Friendly Communities with applications opening November first. 

Even more fascinating, the PBIC has a search tool that you can use to find examples of policies and changes implemented in cities across the country to improve walkability.  Their Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center also Case Study Compendium includes dozens of examples of communities with pedestrian and bicycle projects and programs.  Planning pedestrian programs ranged from the City of Charlotte North Carolina’s Commitment to the Pedestrian Program to a Traffic Calming Guidelines project in Sacramento, California.

My next stop was to visit the CDC’s Healthy Places Web page and browse the recent CDC community design report issued in April that illustrated the importance of taking public health, including physical activity, into account when creating the built environment.  The report included five case studies of communities that illustrate best practices in community design to support good health.  One of these communities, Lakewood, Colorado, is paying particular attention to walkability as it develops the Belmar Project, a pedestrian centered residential and retail area.

In this same report, Bill Gilchrist, a member of the American Institute of Architects, working with Miami-Dade County, briefed participants in this expert workshop on his urban design work with them.  He commented that when the environment is healthier, there is a more economically thriving community.  Interestingly, Gilchrist noted the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center for Community Economic Development report The Economic Benefit of a Walkable Community that highlighted several economic benefits of a more walkable community and ways to make communities more walkable.  

Last summer, HHS hosted a Webinar on June 15th for Physical Activity Guidelines Supporters.  As part of the Webinar Nicole Rioles, Campaign Coordinator discussed Shape Up Somerville, a Massachusetts citywide campaign to increase daily physical activity and healthy eating. The campaign includes a number of interventions including walkability and safe routes to schools.

Now, I’m even more curious to learn from you.  What is your community doing to build a healthy community that is more walkable?

Healthy Communities...the term seems to be turning up more and more lately...from reports in the media to city and county council meetings-from the smallest of the states legislatures to the hallowed halls of the United States Congress.  Is it latest buzz phrase or truly a movement?

There are a variety of groups (both government and non-profit) working on healthy communities and each of them have their own interpretation of exactly WHAT a healthy community is.  However, I have noticed one thing that most healthy community discussions seem to include...the need to insure that there are ample opportunities for people to engage in physical activity.  The introductory paragraph for the National Physical Activity Plan's Transportation, Land Use and Community Design sector reads: “Transportation systems, development patterns, and community design and planning decisions all can have profound effects on physical activity. People can lead healthier, more active lives if our communities are built to facilitate safe walking and biking and the use of public transportation, all considered forms of active transportation.” 

Considering how community design affects the amount of physical activity that residents get would go a VERY long way toward positioning individuals to increase their daily physical activity and also plays an important part in creating a healthy community.

Imagine...if all neighborhoods had sidewalks and were well lit....imagine the increase in the number of individuals achieving the amount of physical activity specified for their demographic in the National Physical Activity Guidelines....imagine if all commercial landlords in a community were to insure that office stairwells are open for traffic...and imagine one step further...where the said landlord  (owner or whoever the power that be is) added interesting artwork or motivational signs to the walls in the stairwells.  Imagine if there were bike racks at all train stations-small and large....or if all children were able to walk to school along paved wooded paths...now-imagine how many more Americans would be reaching the recommended amount of daily physical activity.

The National Physical Activity Plan states that “Changes to improve active transportation will require many individuals and agencies – transportation engineers, city planners, architects, schools, health professionals, government agencies at all levels, community advocates, citizens, and employers – to rethink the way we plan and develop our communities. “  It is imperative that a variety of departments work together even if in the past they may not have always agreed on direction. 

I would love to hear some of non-traditional partnerships that have worked effectively to promote healthy communities.  What plans do YOU have to begin to establish a coalition in YOUR community to work toward making it a healthier one?