making the health argument to boost walkability

7/28/2019 Making the Health Argument to Boost Walkability

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Making the Health Argumentto Boost WalkabilityAlliance for Biking & Walking Mutual Aid CallWednesday, May 8, 2013

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Walking is one o the best ways to stay healthy. Regular physical activity, like walking, has been shown to

lower the risk o cancer, heart disease, diabetes, stroke, arthritis and osteoporosis. Public health researchershave long recognized that walkable neighborhoods have the power to increase regular physical activity, hav-ing a hugely positive aect on overall public health. On this call, researchers and advocates shared the latestconvincing research on how walkable neighborhoods aect public health and discussed how advocates canuse health arguments to win better walking.

Advice rom Dr. Brian Saelins, PhD

Proessor o Pediatrics and Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Seattle Childrens Hospital

A Critical Component o Health

Walking should be a strong ocus o health intervention. Most Americanadults and children are ailing to meet minimum health recommendationsor physical activity. For those who are meeting the minimum require-ments, walking is oen a big part o their success.

Emerging evidence suggests that walking makes up a largerpercentage o overall physical activity than previously thought.In a recent study, researchers outftted participants with accel-erometers and ound that nearly 59% o participants physicalactivity came rom walking.1

Built environmentimprovementshave a greaterability to increasewalking.

Built Environment Makes a Dierence

Built environment improvements have a greater ability to increase walking or a sus-tained period, even compared to programs that aim to increase walking. We need tolook or opportunities to make physical activity easy, and the best way to do this isthrough built environment changes that weave walking into everyday lie.

A study examined walking in Seattle, Baltimore and DC, looking at high and low in-come neighborhoods as well as neighborhoods with high and low levels o walkability,or walkable built environments. Te study ound no correlation between physical activ-ity levels and income, but a very signifcant correlation between walking and walkability.People in more walkable communities were getting 4-5 minutes o extra exercise eachday, leading to 12% lower obesity rates.

Tree major actors lead to higher walking:

Density making things nearby;

Land use mix having non-residential destinations, like businesses, parks, andschools, in close proximity; and

ransit greater presence o transit means more accumulation o walk trips.

Walking leads to better health or seniors, too, so built environment in communitieswith elderly populations is important. For built environments to maximize walking orolder adults, distances between destinations need to be shorter.
http://www.seattlechildrens.org/http://www.seattlechildrens.org/


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Walking to School

Te built environment is the primary determinant or predicting levels o walking andbiking to school. Distance to school is important, as are route aspects such as saety,major crossings, access to sidewalks, etc.

Tere is evidence that walking to and rom school doesnot decrease other types o physical activity; it is an over-all add to a childs physical activity levels.2

Walking to and fromschool is an overall addto a childs health.

Why Walk?Exercise is important to get at the root problem o heart issues, as opposed to just ad-

dressing problems as they arise.

Medically, walking is a no brainer. It is harder than ever to fnd a disease that is notdramatically improved by walking. Even or diseases that we would not expect de-pression, breast cancer, dementia increasing walking and physical activity leads tosignifcant improvements.

Advice rom Dr. David Sabgir, MD

Cardiologist and Founder, Walk with a Doc

About Walk with a Doc

As a cardiology ellow, David had lots o conversations with patients about the impor-

tance o physical activity but realized he was ineective in actually getting people toexercise. o address his rustrations, he starting holding walks in local parks and invitinghis patients, then ounded Walk with a Doc in 2005 to spread his work. Walk with a Docnow holds walks in over 100 locations around the country.

Te program aims to boost walking among patients while breaking down the barriersbetween patients and physicians.

While the walks vary, they hold certain common tenants. Te walks are ree, eature atleast one medical doctor, and oen include med students and nurses as well. Te walksprovide healthy breakast ood, eature a brie medical discussion oen initiated by par-ticipant questions and include a 30-60 minute walk. Walk with a Doc provides pedom-eters and blood pressure checks beore and aer the walks.

Walk With a Doc advocates or 150 minutes per week o walking. 70% o the organiza-tions programs are weekly, while 30% are monthly or twice a month.

It would be easy or individuals or advocacy organizations to start up new Walk witha Doc programs. People who are interested in starting a new branch can contact Walkwith a Doc (link) to learn more about program requirements. Potential walk leaders re-ceive a tool kit with template letters to roll out the program, optional liability insuranceand a license agreement. WWAD also sends a launch kit with shirts, pedometers andmarketing materials.


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Advice rom Hillary Borcherding

Communications Manager, WalkBoston

Zooming In on the Benefts: the Walk Your Way to Health Story

WalkBoston works to address social and physical barriers to walking. Inspired by ameeting with Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjamin, WalkBoston advocates decided tochampion the health benefts o walking by boiling down existing walking and healthresearch into a small and easy-to-understand handout.

While WalkBoston didnt have the resources to createnew research, advocates were able to fnd and curate ex-isting research and data to create digestible educationalresources about walking and health.

Te Walk Your Way to Health pamphlet (link) explainswhy walking is the closest thing to a magic bullet tohealth. It touches on the benefts o walking related todisease prevention and improvement to dierent body systems.

WalkBoston decided to ocus on health rather than weight because advocates were notcomortable to making a claim o the connection between walking and weight reduc-tion. Instead, the pamphlet details the well-documented connection between walkingand health living.

Advocates aimed to use the brochure to shock people. Walk Your Way to Healthincludes clear and tangible benefts to walking, which compliments peoples anecdotalthoughts on the benefts to walking. Te pamphlet also discusses the connection be-tween walking and childrens increased ability to learn.

Spreading the Knowledge

o share the knowledge in the guide, WalkBoston created a road show. Advocates frstbrought the presentation to businesses that wanted to start walking programs, then

brought it to school districts interested in promoting walking to school.Te organization targets outreach to areas that have the highest chance o increased

walking, based on location o schools relative to where people live.

WalkBoston gives the Walk Your Way to Health brochure to corporate members and lo-cal schools. Te brochure provides clear examples o the benefts o walking.

Advocates were able tofnd and curate existingresearch and data tocreate digestibleeducational resourcesabout walking & health

o recruit doctors or the program, organizers oen turn to local hospitals, residencyprograms, and proessors emeritus. Local hospitals are oen receptive to participatingbecause public involvement around health provides positive marketing.
http://walkboston.org/http://walkboston.org/


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Citations and Additional Resources 1Kang et al., 2013 Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise Walking Objectively

Measured: Classiying Accelerometer Data with GPS and Travel Diaries

2Cooper, 2005 American Journal o Preventative Medicine Physical Activity Levels oChildren Who Walk, Cycle, or Are Driven to School

2Cooper, 2012 Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise Active Travel and PhysicalActivity across the School Transition: the PEACH Project

Walk Your Way to Health - WalkBostons pamphlet compiling essential research linkinghealth and walking.

Walk your Way to Health presentation (PDF)- WalkBostons presentation on the linksbetween health and walking

Walk with a Doc locations- a list o all Walk With a Doc locations, plus tips on how tostart a new walk in your community

Active Living Research Bries & Syntheses - a collection o scientifc literature showinglinks between health and active transportation
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23439414http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23439414http://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797(05)00224-2/abstracthttp://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797(05)00224-2/abstracthttp://www.bristol.ac.uk/sps/people/ashley-r-cooper/pub/2975664http://www.bristol.ac.uk/sps/people/ashley-r-cooper/pub/2975664http://www.walkboston.org/resources/publications/walk-your-way-healthhttp://www.walkboston.org/sites/default/files/WalkYourWayToHealth_6-8-12.pdfhttp://www.walkwithadoc.org/our-locations/http://www.walkwithadoc.org/our-locations/http://activelivingresearch.org/search/site/?f[0]%20=bundle%3Aresearch_briefs_syntheseshttp://activelivingresearch.org/search/site/?f[0]%20=bundle%3Aresearch_briefs_syntheseshttp://www.walkwithadoc.org/our-locations/http://www.walkboston.org/sites/default/files/WalkYourWayToHealth_6-8-12.pdfhttp://www.walkboston.org/resources/publications/walk-your-way-healthhttp://www.bristol.ac.uk/sps/people/ashley-r-cooper/pub/2975664http://www.bristol.ac.uk/sps/people/ashley-r-cooper/pub/2975664http://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797(05)00224-2/abstracthttp://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797(05)00224-2/abstracthttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23439414http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23439414

making the health argument to boost walkability

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