Is your neighbourhood turning your kid into a couch potato?
Dr. John C. Spence
A researcher at the University of Alberta explores the connection between where we live and how much we exercise
As the Winter Olympics kick off in Vancouver, many people around the world will be thinking about what it takes to make a top athlete. But as the rate of chronic diseases such as obesity and diabetes continue to climb among young Canadians, a more pressing question may be what it takes to make a healthy, active individual. According to Dr. John C. Spence at the University of Alberta, your neighbourhood could play an important role.
"When I began my research, most of the existing studies on physical activity focused on individual responsibility – people's choices and behaviours," says Dr. Spence. "What I want to know is how our environment gets under our skin and influences those choices and behaviours."
The choices we make each day, from what we eat for breakfast to whether we take the stairs or the elevator, are definitely important. But according to a growing body of research, these choices are often heavily influenced by factors beyond our control. For example, if people do not feel safe walking around their neighbourhood, or if they don't have green spaces in their community, this could decrease the amount of exercise they get each day.
By understanding the subtle ways in which environments influence people's exercise habits, Dr. Spence hopes to help policy makers design more effective programs for promoting physical activity. He is particularly interested in looking at the many ways that children are impacted by where they live.
"Children have less control over their environments than adults do," says Dr. Spence. "In some ways, this may make it easier to identify and eliminate barriers to physical activity for kids than for adults."
With funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, Dr. Spence and his team recruited 2,000 children from the Edmonton area to participate in a study. The researchers are using pedometers and surveys to collect data about the kids' activity levels and overall health. The researchers will also be conducting in-depth analyses of the kids' neighbourhoods, looking at factors such as crime rates and the types of food available in local stores and restaurants.
"We've already started analyzing data from a pilot study, and we've had some interesting preliminary findings regarding gender," says Dr. Spence. "It appears that girls are more sensitive than boys to differences in the walkability of their neighbourhoods. It may be that safety concerns have a greater impact on how much time girls spend playing outside."