SAN FRANCISCO: A new report shows 52 per cent do not get the recommended 30 minutes of moderate activity per day combined with muscle-strengthening exercises.
Researchers tracked 229 residents who moved to a walkable community. Walkable communities put emphasis on pedestrian rather than vehicular traffic as the primary form of day-to-day transportation by clustering apartments, grocery stores, dining and retail.
The team’s analysis revealed that after moving to the walkable community the percentage of residents who were achieving that recommendation increased from 34 to 49 per cent. The time those residents spent walking and bicycling shot up by 40 minutes and 13 minutes per week, respectively.
In a separate study published this year of residents’ physical activity in three low-income neighborhoods over six years, researchers found a positive correlation between exercise and the overall connectedness of neighborhoods, as measured by the ease of movement and efficiency of the street layout.