Those who are suited to the cosmopolitan lifestyle are twice more likely to attain physical exercise than suburban residents, according to San Diego State University’s study; published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine.
The survey consisted of 11,541 participants in 11 countries, including the United States, Brazil, Sweden, Lithuania and Japan. Statistically, 15-50 percent of city residents are receiving moderate to vigorous exercises five days a week, 30 minutes per day, because they have access to a public sidewalk, which becomes an important means of transportation, according the research.
SDSU professor and leading author Jim Sallis; notes that the study will provide evidence that more communities should promote sidewalks as an ideal form of everyday exercise, such as running, jogging or simply just walking the dog.
“Even in this group of culturally diverse countries, this one factor held constant,” Sallis noted in the research by SDSU. “Designing neighborhoods to support physical activity for recreation and transportation purposes should be a public healthy priority around the world.”
