Countrywide Natural Experiment Links Built Environment To Physical Activity (nature.com)
- Reference: 0178666084
- News link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/08/13/188205/countrywide-natural-experiment-links-built-environment-to-physical-activity
- Source link: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09321-3
The additional steps consisted predominantly of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, with large walkability increases of 49-80 points associated with about one hour per week more of such activity. The study found that 42.5% of participants met national physical activity guidelines for moderate-to-vigorous activity after moving to highly walkable locations, compared to 21.5% before relocation. Computer simulations based on the data suggest that increasing all US cities to the walkability level of Chicago or Philadelphia could result in 36 million more Americans meeting aerobic physical activity guidelines.
[1] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09321-3
Not surprised (Score:4, Insightful)
Making it more practical to walk and more people will walk. I spend time in a major European city and mostly walk unless it is a long distance say 2 or more kilometers or later at night.
One of my favorite cell phone tracking studies (Score:2)
Was tracking people based on how often they go to church versus how often they say they go to church. You can imagine how that study went.
But we can't have walkable cities because then the government can control absolutely everywhere you go.
Now please pay absolutely no attention to all those self-driving cars or the fact that the government builds all your roads because the car companies sure as hell on going to pay for that...
Re: (Score:2)
Outside service hours?
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I turn off my phone at church.
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So these were people who agreed to join a study to track how often they go to church.
They would have been incentivized and in particular they would have wanted to show how pious they were to the people doing the studies and they still managed to have extremely low rates of church attendance.
Basically Church attendance has been cratering for some time. It's actually benefiting the mega churches because the other smaller churches are closing left and right leaving nothing in the area if you want to go t
How did they find out? (Score:2)
> moving to more walkable environments increased daily walking
Wow! How did they just find out? Crazy bastards these scientists, nowadays!
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They've been talking to the 'water is wet' researchers
Village life (Score:2)
I currently live in an 800 yo village and walk about 3 km per day. It is just not worth starting the car to go to the shop.
Re: Village life (Score:4, Informative)
Anecdotally, I make sure I live near work and our kids school. We drive at most once per week, sometimes just fortnightly. We live 5km from the CBD of Brisbane Australia. We walk everywhere. Typical step count is 6500/day and I work from home full time. My wife walks to and from work most days. I find the idea of working to pay for transport to get to work very counterproductive. The idea anyone also then pays for gym membership and then just does basic exercises like walking on a treadmill also illogical. But lots of people do that kind of shit like it's perfectly normal.
Question (Score:2)
Is Bataan Peninsula considered to be walkable?
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I see what you did there...
Let people make their own decisions. (Score:3)
I don't WANT to live anywhere close enough to businesses to be able to walk to them. Give me rural or suburban. If any businesses are within a mile, that is way too close. And shopping on foot is totally impractical anyway if you buy any quantity of items -- or heavy items like cat litter or large bags of cat or dog food. I typically go to the grocery store for major shopping every couple of weeks -- and fill the entire back of an SUV, so that isn't happening on foot. Same for work, my typical daily driving is 15-25 miles depending on the day. Let people vote for where they want to live with their dollars and personal choices -- no tax dollars should be used to further walkability goals or any other society planning.
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You have the right to make your own decisions. However, you are the people trying to force others to live far away, no one is trying to force you to live close. Every day a-holes in major cities try to prevent people from living dense. They pass rules saying no duplex's, no sky scrapers, etc.
No one is going around telling people that live in small towns or farms that they cannot build single family housing.
Note, the people in NYC can easily have those things delivered once a week. We can do that for le
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We are fine supporting your ridiculous life styles
What do you mean by that? :) There's nothing really ridiculous about not wanting to be surrounded by noise, traffic and hordes of people, is there? IMO the suburban lifestyle is the ridiculous one. Almost all the downsides of living in a densely populated area, with none of the upsides; and none of the upsides of actually being 'rural', but all of the downsides (more driving, primarily)
I can say though, living about 30 miles outside the nearest 'city'
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> Let people vote for where they want to live with their dollars and personal choices -- no tax dollars should be used to further walkability goals or any other society planning.
Let's for a moment forget all the stupidity you wrote before that last sentence and focus in "their dollars and personal choices - no tax dollars". Exactly what dollars you think are being used to pave the roads you use daily or build infrastructure like electricity, water, communications and every other public service to the rural/suburban area you chose to live as your personal choice? You, sir, a an absolutely idiot.
1100 Steps (Score:2)
Being generous and assuming a stride length of 2.5 feet means you are walking another 440 feet per day. That's not a lot.
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> Being generous and assuming a stride length of 2.5 feet means you are walking another 440 feet per day. That's not a lot.
On "couch potato" days my watch logs 4,000 step.
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Came here to make this point.
As someone who tracks his steps, an extra 1000 steps is nothing. If a change in environment boosted my step count by say 3000-4000 then I would start listening.
BR>With a family to look after I can do 1000 steps on my stairs at home in 1 day alone and I don't even count that towards exercise.
Steps are not what you think they are (Score:2)
Steps are NOT a way to quantify healthy exercise. Everyone wants to see improvement in their health, so they want to see more steps on their devices. Except those steps are now shorter, lighter, less up and down, you know, pretending that 3 steps on level ground are better than 2 steps going up stairs. Hey, take the escalater up to rest and then walk around the office once. MORE STEPS! There is so much that technology does NOT measure. One of those is health. How about: walk a little more than last w
Re: (Score:2, Troll)
Cancer rates for rural populations(457.6 per 100,000) are higher than urban (447.9 per 100,000). [1]https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.go... [nih.gov]
[1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38801414/
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
> Cancer rates for rural populations(457.6 per 100,000) are higher than urban (447.9 per 100,000). [1]https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.go... [nih.gov]
Of course, because you're less likely to get cancer if you get run over by a self-driving taxi or shot first. /s
[1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38801414/
Re: Counterintuitive (Score:4, Informative)
[1]"People in the US who live in low-density sprawl are more likely to die violently than their inner-city cousins -- thanks mostly to car accidents." [thewalrus.ca]
[1] http://thewalrus.ca/me-want-more-square-footage/
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Maybe I should have gone with getting shot by self-driving taxis...
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> [1]"People in the US who live in low-density sprawl are more likely to die violently than their inner-city cousins -- thanks mostly to car accidents." [thewalrus.ca]
It's pretty dishonest for the link to group auto accidents with armed robberies, assault, rape, etc. Violence, as a legal definition, is intentional . Accidents, by their very definition, are not.
[1] http://thewalrus.ca/me-want-more-square-footage/
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Just whatever you do, don't mention the demographics involved. Please don't. Just don't do it.
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> The air is worse, but you're getting a lot more steps in!
More walking vs. more breathing in carcinogens. Which wins?
Hint: More walking doesn't do anything to help you remove persistent PM2.5 irritants from your lungs. On the other hand, smoking weed does, because it increases sputum production...
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You do not get more carcinogens in NYC as compared to most other cities. New York City is not on the list of top 15 most polluted American Cities. California is the bad guy there, mainly because of all the cars in traffic jams. Subways rule !
Note, the only real surprise on the top15 most polluted cities is Fairbanks Alaska. Apparently wood burning stoves make for cheap heating in the winter, but the winter air traps all the smoke close to the ground. Throw in wild fires and you get the 7th worst cit
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> You do not get more carcinogens in NYC as compared to most other cities. New York City is not on the list of top 15 most polluted American Cities. California is the bad guy there, mainly because of all the cars in traffic jams.
Geography plays a big part too. LA has those [1]mountains [sierraclub.org] making sure the smog doesn't go anywhere very fast.
[1] https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/2023-2-summer/notes-here-there/la-s-battle-against-smog-isn-t-over
Re: Counterintuitive (Score:2)
Yeah, but people in LA don't walk :)
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> You do not get more carcinogens in NYC as compared to most other cities. New York City is not on the list of top 15 most polluted American Cities. California is the bad guy there, mainly because of all the cars in traffic jams. Subways rule !
The California cities with the most polluted air are all in the central valley, in farm country. Tractors kicking up dust and stuff while the air is hemmed in on all sides in the wide valley. The coastal cities generally have good air, well at least away from LA. In the US, the big factor for air pollution is geography and how the wind blows.
High-Speed Lead Pollution (Score:2)
> You do not get more carcinogens in NYC as compared to most other cities.
Are you factoring in the far greater rate of high-speed lead pollution found in US cities compared to their western counterparts? Lead is a known carcinogen and highly toxic as well.