Becoming An Enabler To Become A Barrier To Movement In A Community

The wide use of transportation contributes to how society is increasingly turning away from walking. Since, the majority of people drive either their own cars or a form of public transportation regularly they have lost the sense of distance. People may never even know that the daily commute they may take to work is faster to walk to then it is to wait in traffic for. For example, recently my roommate invited me along so she should get a tattoo at a parlor in our hometown. We had to take a bus to get near to the location because it is a bit far away from UCR, but once we got off at a bus stop instead of walking the short distance that would take about 15 minutes we decided to call an Uber. We both haven’t been in our hometown in a while, so instead of enjoying it we decided to take a car. At my high school, students were allowed to drive themselves to the campus beginning junior year. I never got my license during high school, so I would either be picked up by one of my parents or a friend who drove to themselves to school would. However, whenever one of my parents would pick me up they would refuse to pick me up directly in front of the school because of the ridiculous amount of traffic. They had me walk a little over half a mile each day after school to the exact same spot. Even though, half a mile wasn’t a long walk I realized a difference between taking that small walk and being driven home by

Physical activity also has benefits for children's social and emotional development and cognitive development. These benefits include being part of a team and making friends through group sports, which have a major impact on social and emotional development. The effect of obesity on children is closely linked to many bad health habits such as diet, smoking and drug use which in turn can affect a child's academic performance (Goran et al., 1999). Physical activity, if encouraged at a young age, can reduce the likelihood of children developing these behaviours and focus on their academic performance and cognitive development. As children in this age range are in their fundamental development stage, it is important that educators and parents alike, teach children about the importance of physical activity at a young age in order to prevent health and social well-being problems in their adult years.

Schools are required to have at least an hour of physical activity daily. This is enough time as long as the children are actually doing something that is going to help burn some calories. If they don’t do anything that will make them break a little sweat then the whole physical education class is useless. The PE classes don’t only make the children run but they also teach them what they need to do to stay in some kind of shape for later on in their life. Less than 10% of public schools and private schools provide daily PE (Boyse). Another thing that schools can do to promote physical activity is having the children walk or bike to school. The way they would bike would be monitored by the local government and school programs. The parents of the children could walk them to school so not only do the children get exercise but the parents can also workout. By doing this the parents won’t have to sit in traffic and can save gas. After a time the child will get use to walking and will want to walk instead of taking a car. To start this the child needs someone to walk them and keep them doing it.

Time- The loss of time is the main reason when an individual is not taking part in various physical exercises. If willing to participate in different types of physical exercise of sports the individual will be required to change he or she’s schedule of arrangement for example when working or even looking after their children. This produces a spectrum committed for individuals towards participating; some individual’s may not have the time to participate in any physical exercises.

In “Motivating Kids to Move”, the authors of the journal article studied the effect that school teachers and sports stars have on children and the important role they play in motivating children and adolescents to take part in regular physical activity. A survey conducted in America by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) in the year 2000 had children rank teachers and sports stars (72%) second to only parents (92%) as the people they admire most. The statistics provided in the article are sickening as one third of American children are either overweight or obese. The author goes on the mention that these

According to Ratey and Manning (2014) we should follow our ancestors diet, move like our brains are wired to, get adequate sleep, and be social. To eat like our ancestors we should greatly reduce carbohydrates, stay away from grains and eat a good variety of “nuts, root vegetables, leafy greens, fruits, fish, wild game, clean, cool water” (Ratey and Manning, 2014, p. 95). Food is just one part of our health and well being. “Running lies at the core of the human experience, but that deep connection has also, in recent years, produced a flurry of investigation and research across disciplines that give this topic a better platform than most for launching the broader discussion of the importance of movement” (Ratey and Manning, 2014, p. 114). The point is to move in whatever way makes your brain happy meaning you will likely want to keep doing it and if possible incorporate some nature by going outside every once in a while. And just as important we need to incorporate our innate nature to be social beings. “Tribalism is a cultural universal, so identified by paleoanthropologists as one of the salient characteristics that has defined humanity since the beginning” (Ratey and Manning, 2014, p. 196). By working on any of these aspects of life we are getting closer to the happy and healthy beings that our genes created us to

Physical activity is the ability to perform the different characteristics of sports and professions for the sake of a person’s health and well-being. Physical activity can include walking, running, swimming and etc. Exercise would be considered a type of physical activity. It is known to be excellent for a person mentally and physically. It keeps a person’s heart and lungs healthy and overall lets he or she have an everlasting life. So therefore children need to be educated on physical activity and why it is essential in our lives. After learning and studying about the what could possibly happen to a person if he or she is not active, I became worried and started motivating and educating my little sister on the different types of physical activities to do. It was not something that she wanted to do but it was something she

One particular barrier that has been found to have an indirect effect on physical activity is self-efficacy and self-motivation. Self-efficacy allows humans to overcome barriers such as feeling tired to exercise; because of social norms, it is harder for females to have high self-efficacy and in turn, harder to overcome barriers to motivation (Louw, Van Biljon, & Mugandani, 2012).

Globally, around 31% of adults aged 15 and over were insufficiently active in 2008 (men 28% and women 34%). Approximately 3.2 million deaths each year are attributable to insufficient physical activity (WHO, 2013). Physical activity is defined as any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that require energy expenditure (WHO, 2013). Physical inactivity is estimated to be the main cause for approximately 27% of those who have diabetes (WHO, 2013). In order to globally take control over this worldwide epidemic of type 2 diabetes, physical activity needs to become a daily activity in each and everyone’s lives. Physical activity is extremely important as it helps keep blood glucose, blood pressure, HDL cholesterol and triglycerides in check. It helps lower the risks of type 2 diabetes (WHO, 2013).

Physical inactivity is a leading cause to morbidity and mortality, physical inactivity can cause obesity, and as I mentioned above the obesity causes many diseases, to limit physical inactivity that needs well-designed community with parks, bike path, sidewalks, street lightening, physical education classes, and physical activities in the school, all of these encourage children and adult to do physical

Certain features of the built environment –such as the presence of sidewalks, streetlights, interconnectivity of street, population density and use mix – appear to encourage physical activity and thus reduce the risk of obesity and related health problems. Other factors – such as cul de sacs, lack of parks, high speed traffic and auto-mobile focused transportation – may function to discourage activity and ultimately increase obesity risk. (9)

The Walking Revolution (2013) is a documentary on walking habits, the health benefits of walking and how technology has changed the way in which people approach exercise. Several doctors and researchers in the medical industry participated in the documentary and there opinions on walking and exercise at large give a clear and succinct idea of the benefits. When looking at the history of walking Sheila Franklin, a member of the National Condition for Promoting Physical Activity, states that in the 60s, “ninety percent of students who lived within a mile or less from school got there on their own power.” She then goes on to state that today it has dropped to thirty one percent. This was most likely to do with Scott Dissel, who is part of the Trust for Public Land, calls the suburbanization of America. By this he

Insufficient physical activity is one the leading risk factors for global mortality. Physical activity not only contributes to wellbeing, it is essential for good health. Increasing physical activity levels can help prevent or manage many conditions and diseases; this includes coronary heart disease, diabetes, some cancers and obesity along with improving mental health. According to World Health Organisation (WHO), physical activity is any bodily movement by muscles that requires energy expenditure.

For instance, areas with safety concerns can discourage physical activity while areas with good pedestal connection can encourage more walking and bicycling for transportation. In terms of choice of food, poor and minority communities may not have equal access to the variety of healthy food choices available when compared to wealthy communities. (K. Morland, S. Wing, A. Diez-Roux, C. Poole, 2002) The built environment consist of urban design factors, land use, and available public transportation for a region, as well as the available activity options for people within that space (S.L. Handy, M.G. Boarnet, R. Ewing, R.E. Killingsworth, 2002). Promoting physical activity is of public health importance because of its health benefits. According to Bize, Johnson, Plotnikoff (2007), physical inactivity is associated with increased risks of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and other chronic diseases. However, interest to participate in

While extensive television viewing and the use of other electronic media has contributed to the sedentary lifestyles, other environmental factors have reduced the opportunities for physical activity. Opportunities to be physically active and safe environments to be active in have decreased in the recent years. The majority of children in the past walked or rode their bike to school. A study conducted in 2002 by Anderson PM, Butcher KE Childhood obesity: trends and potential causes. Future Child. 2006 Spring; 16(1):19-45 found that “53% of parents drove their children to school. Of these parents, 66% said they drove their children to school since their homes were too far away from the school. Other reasons parents gave for driving their children