With a little help from your friends

The challenge of changing the culture around physical activity in our daily lives is enveloped within a twist of the "tragedy of the commons": while we may all benefit individually from incorporating more activity in our daily lives, setting up the environment where the right choices are rewarded is far too expensive for any one company, governmental agency, or organization to undertake because they won't see an individual benefit equal to their investment.

Not to oversimplify it, but that seems to be a primary issue that explains the overwhelming inertia we have regarding implementing an environment that supports active living. Those companies that profit from selling goods and services to active individuals (think retailers selling sporting goods, sporting apparel, fresh food, recreational items, etc.) already do so. But there hasn't been an equivalent industry emerging to profit from active environments that are inclusive of the public domain. And there yet has not risen the political will for the public realm to be re-engineered to accommodate active lives.

So, what are you going to do until the baby boomers have to give up the car keys and demand change? One alternative is to get good friends; friends who are already active. There is recent research (highlighted in a recent newspaper article) that delineates how social networks influence behavior. For instance, if you have a friend who became obese, your chances of becoming obese increased 57 percent.

I don't know if there the converse is true- that slim friends make us slimmer- but it seems that we are inexorably linked to our friends and we should get a little help from our friends and go out and walk, ride, dance, whatever- together.

Staying Lapless

It appears that even the act of sitting down for longer periods of time increases the risk of an earlier death. A recent study queried the cause of about 11,000 deaths and isolated time spent sitting- less than 3 hours or more than six hours- and came up with the result that sitting was associated with mortality.

The study abstract concludes: "The time spent sitting was independently associated with total mortality, regardless of physical activity level. Public health messages should include both being physically active and reducing time spent sitting."

The study seems to come to an obvious conclusion- that a sedentary lifestyle is not conducive to a long life- but the startling thing for me is that the impact of sitting for long periods during the day is not erased by physical activity during the rest of the day.

Stimulating environments lengthen lives

Much as I am a booster of the urban life and form, I must admit that I'm rather shocked that an exciting environment, such as can be found in a city, has far-reaching health consequences. Scientists have recently discovered in laboratory mice, when injected with cancerous cells, have a marked difference in response based on their environments. The mice that were raised in a "a complex environment providing social interactions, opportunities to learn and increased physical activity" had tumors almost 80 percent smaller than mice who did not have an enriched environment. Moreover, the interesting environment had a more significant impact on tumor growth than simply a greater amount of exercise.

His shoes were made for walking

This is an interesting article by a man who recently finished his seven year goal of walking all 2,612 streets of San Francisco. He admits that he missed some, such as the streets of Alcatraz and platted streets covered by the Bay, and that he found that he didn't know his town as well as he thought he did. He quotes T.S. Eliot to good effect:

"We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time."

Hobbling Joe the Camel

Fortunately, Joe the Camel is no longer with us to promote underage smoking, but Big Tobacco has had other avenues to encourage the use of their product. As of today, however, tobacco companies can no longer sponsor cultural and sporting events and cigarette vending machines can only be located in areas where access is restricted to adults. These changes, plus many more, are a result of the Tobacco Control Act passed by Congress last year.

The horror of congestion

If only our rush hour looked like this:

At the dark end of the street

A recent article in the Harvard Business Review has revived interest in Dr. Lawrence Frank's work. Frank is a University of British Columbia professor who documents how the physical environment impacts level of physical activity. He notes that residents of walkable neighborhoods are 2 and a 1/2 times more likely to be physical active than people who don't live in walkable neighborhoods. And street connectivity really matters: residents in who live in a highly connected street grid drive 26% fewer vehicle miles than residents who live in areas with many cul-de-sacs. The end result is that if you drive more you have a greater chance of gaining weight: Frank reports that for each 1/2 hour of driving per day is associated with a 3% greater chance of being overweight.

Frank summarizes the urban elements that are the most influential for increased physical activity in a neighborhood:
• presence of a continuous sidewalk system;
• presence of dedicated bicycle facilities;
• building setbacks;
• the design, supply, and location of parking;
• ability to cross streets;
• buffering from vehicular traffic;
• size of block faces;
• lighting;
• presence of other pedestrians;
• “eyes on the street”;
• presence of public spaces;
• levels of employment density;
• levels of residential density;
• levels of land use mix; and
• overall continuity of the street network

The ability to arrive at a destination is also an important consideration to promote more walking. In a well connected street network, there is greater choice and a higher possibility that a spectrum of destinations are available for the walking trip, as seen in the following graphic which shows possible one kilometer trips from the red dot in the center of the map.