Group 18
Joseph Goldman
Amida 0mari
Leah Parker
Meagan Pettigrove
Leah Santiago
December 1, 2014
Blog Post: Physical
Activity
Amongst the CDC’s
winnable battles is Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity. According to the
CDC between “1980 to 2000, obesity rates for adults doubled and rates forchildren tripled (CDC, 2014).” The primary causes of this increase in obesity
are over consumption of calories and a decrease in physical activity. This
problem exists everywhere in the United States. Not one single state in the US
has an obesity rate lower than 15% (CDC, 2010). The CDC is attempting to tackle
this problem from many angles. They are attempting to improve school lunch
programs and improve access to fresh foods. We believe that tackling the lack
of physical activity may be tougher to accomplish. The CDC is encouraging
bicycling and the use of public transportation to promote physical activity,
but that doesn’t go nearly far enough. A lot more physical activity in needed.
So what is keeping people from the activity that they need? Environment,
stress, food oases, too much screen time, and lack of physical education in
schools all contribute to lack of physical activity and obesity. These are just
a few of the things that contribute to the obesity epidemic in the U.S. The CDC
believes that obesity is a winnable battle. They believe that through programs
to change eating habits and increase activity, such as increasing green spaces
and addressing food oases, these goals can be achieved.
The social determinants
that I feel are essential to the betterment of physical exercise is to
understand why obesity rates in America are continuing to grow and how to make
room for time to eat a healthy meal. A study was done by Harvard’s “School of
Public Health” that stated that one of
the reasons why Americans (Harvard School of Public Health n.d) who come
from, “low-income and minority neighborhoods have fewer recreational facilitiesthan wealthier and predominantly white communities.” Many Americans have
forgotten the importance of walking and cycling to get to a destination rather than driving
a car. The car and buses replaced the poor
people’s feet of moving to sitting and pressing their feet on the pedal.
Whereas the wealthy have the money and accessibility to all necessary exercise
routines. They need to create more sidewalks, bike paths, crosswalks and fresh
supermarkets in impoverished areas because it is essential to the improvements
of the physical activity. Having time to eat a healthy meal hasn’t been the
case for the poor. As a result they are
lacking essential minerals or nutrients that would greatly improve over
all well-being. A lack of essential nutrients can lead to many diagnoses of
chronic illness such as, (CDC, 2011) “type 2diabetes, heart attack, stroke, arthritis, osteoporosis, depression, anxietysymptoms.” For example, on a Saturday
morning, you work out a moderate performance of hour and half; "walking briskly (a 15-minute mile),light yard work (raking/bagging leaves or using a lawn mower), light snow shoveling activelyplaying with children, and biking at a casual pace.” Afterwards sit down and enjoy a half hour break preparing
yourself a meal whether from a
supermarket or from your garden. So if these criteria’s can be met in the
social determinants of physical activity, than we will be on a right track of eliminating any health
problems that come our way.
Out of the many
evidence-based programs and policy interventions there are in the United States
with the goal of increasing physical activity, here are two that target this
issue within a specific population. Developed by the Community Preventive Services Task Force based on Health People 2020
Objectives they have created an intervention called “Obesity Preventionand Control: Behavioral Interventions to Reduce Screen Time”. The intent of
this program was to decrease “screen time” for example, television, video
games, or watching movies, in children 13 years and younger with the effects of
increasing physical activity resulting in overall better health outcomes (Community Preventive Services Task Force, 2013.) A few
ways these interventions were given and taught through were coaching or
counseling sessions, classroom based education, and/or family based support.
For example, The Community Preventive Services Task Force created interventions
like TV Turnoff Challenge, which included family based support promoting
behavioral self-management skills to the child. It is important to target this
population of young children because screen time and media can harm the health
of the next generation (Community Preventive Services Task Force, 2013.) The environment
we live has a major impact on our health and the health of the population, “The CommunityPreventive Services Task Force recommends design and land usepolicies and practices that support physical activity in urban areas of severalsquare miles or more based on sufficient evidence of effectiveness infacilitating an increase in physical activity.” In actions to increase physical
activity the distance between residences to schools, workplaces, and grocery
stores are subject to change and the appropriate sidewalks and streets must be
accessible and safe to perform physical activity. Examples of different
policies includes, building codes, zoning regulations and other government
policies (Community Preventive ServicesTask Force, 2006). Public Health is working together to improve the health of
their people in order to preserve the well-being of the generations to come
through these programs and policies.
The Community Preventive
Services Task Force reviewed 12 studies that evaluated an array of effective
measures that increases physical activities in the community. Design changes
overall improved some aspect of physical activities such as increasing the
number of walkers and bicyclists. The median improvement was 161%. The task
force also found additional benefits created through these interventions
including: “Improvements in green space; increased sense of community and
decreased isolation; increased consumer choice for places to live; and reduced
crime and stress.” Results from the Community Guide reviews of physical
activity interventions show that a number of these interventions are effective
in increasing physical activity across a range of settings (CommunityPreventive Services Task Force, 2006).
There is not a vast majority of evidence to show that decreasing screen
time from television, video game, phone, and other electronic devices directly
impact childhood obesity. There are other factors that have to be in place such
as healthy nutrition, increase in physical activities combined with a decrease
in screen time to make the intervention highly effective, according to the task
force results.
Having a bad diet
correlates to the amount of physical activity one person does or not does. Overworking
yourself within a job can prevent someone from getting exercise. Being lazy is
a factor in how physical activity someone gets. Also, the food someone eats; if
food has a high sugar content it is more likely for a person to feel groggy and
not motivated enough to work out. Where a person lives can also determine how
healthy they eat, and what they can buy to eat. If someone lives in Rockwood it
is more likely for him or her to go to a fast food place such as Taco Bell then
go to a Natural Grocers. Which, Natural Grocers isn’t even in a ten mile radius
of Rockwood. Physical activity is more accessible if there are more visible
stairs rather than an elevator. To not promote physical education in school is
another factor of why when kids grow up they have less desire to do any
physical activity. We need to start in the elementary schools to educate the
kids on the benefits of exercising regularly.
In
summary, obesity is prevalent within the US, and that can be caused due to the
lack of physical activity people endure on a day-to-day basis. As it is, the
CDC is currently attempting to diminish the problem. By even having the same
amount of fresh supermarkets, as there are fast food joints there could be an
increase in physical activity and/or a better diet for the people as a whole.
Unlike children now, parents should enforce limited technology so that their
only option is to be active. This could lead to children having the effect of
increased physical activity, therefore resulting in overall better health
outcomes (Community Preventive, 2013). To not promote physical education in
school is another factor of why when kids grow up they have less desire to do
any physical activity. Instilling physical activity in a young age is something
that can be beneficial to the child's life as a whole. While the CDC and the
government in general have been making attempts to address these issues, so
much more needs to be done. It probably needs to start at the local level
though with parents and schools addressing these needs in schools and also the
city/county level to address zoning for green spaces and maybe tax incentives
for grocery stores to open in the areas in need.
References
Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.
(Designer). (2005). Physical Activity Level [Web
Graphic].
Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/datastatistics/archive/physical-activity.html
Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. (2010, August 3). Adult obesity. Retrieved
November 15, 2014, from http://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/AdultObesity/index.html
Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (2011, September 13). Physical activity for a
healthy weight. Retrieved November 6, 2014, from http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/physical_activity/index.html? s_cid=govD_dnpao_006
Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. (2014, August 14). Nutrition, physical activity, and
obesity. Retrieved November 15, 2014, from
http://www.cdc.gov/winnablebattles/obesity/index.html
Community
Preventive Services Task Force. (2006). Environmental and policy approaches to
increase physical activity: Community-scale urban design land use policies.
Retrieved November 18, 2014, from http://www.thecommunityguide.org/pa/environmental-policy/communitypolicies.html
Community
Preventive Services Task Force. (2013, March 21). Obesity prevention and
control: Behavioral interventions to reduce screen time. Retrieved November 18,
2014, from http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/tools-resources/evidence-based-resource/obesity-prevention-and-control-behavioral-interventio-0
Community
Preventive Services Task Force. (2013,
March 21). Obesity Prevention and Control: Behavioral Interventions that
Aim to Reduce Recreational Sedentary Screen Time Among Children.
Retrieved November 18, 2014, from http://www.thecommunityguide.org/obesity/behavioral.html
Harvard School of Public Health (n.d.). Environmental barriers to activity. Retrieved November 6, 2014, from http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/obesity-prevention-source/obesity-causes/physical-activity-environment/
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde 2014 | (Designer).
What is physical activity [Web Photo]. Retrieved
Seasons in Malibu. (Designer). (2014, May 19).
[Web Graphic]. Retrieved from
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