Active Living
- LAST REVIEWED: 13 January 2014
- LAST MODIFIED: 13 January 2014
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199756797-0067
- LAST REVIEWED: 13 January 2014
- LAST MODIFIED: 13 January 2014
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199756797-0067
Introduction
Increasing population levels of physical activity is an important public health objective. Physical activity affords important health benefits for populations, including reduced all-cause mortality and lower rates of the leading noncommunicable diseases, coronary heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, colon cancer, and breast cancer. Physical activity is effective in the management of noncommunicable disease risk factors and has important mental health benefits. For children, physical activity helps healthy bone and muscle development and helps children to achieve and maintain a healthy weight. The health benefits of physical activity are impressive and provide justification for the elevation of physical activity as a global public health priority. This article directs the reader to the most important sources of information on physical activity and health and for promoting physical activity. Beyond its health benefits, physical activity offers synergies in relation to other community objectives. For example, by getting more people walking and cycling there are synergistic benefits, often referred to as “co-benefits,” such as reduced air pollution and reduced traffic congestion. Community-level physical activity can increase social capital and reduce local crime. Importantly, a fit and active population also delivers economic benefits for nations through increased productivity, reduced sickness absence from work, and reduced sickness costs. These co-benefits are of particular significance in low- and middle-income country cities where escalating rates of noncommunicable disease coexists with rapid urbanization, and where physical activity has relevance for development. The evidence in favor of physical activity being a policy priority is compelling, and health professionals, governments, nongovernmental organizations, and communities around the world are responding. However, to inform prudent investment in the policies, programs and interventions that will make the biggest contribution to increasing population levels of physical activity, understanding is required of the evidence for the most effective and the most cost-effective interventions. This is approached here through examination of sources of evidence of effectiveness across settings such as schools, mass media, workplaces, primary care, workplaces, sport, and local government, as well as for specific target populations such as older adults. Physical activity is a globally relevant priority. However, the evidence from low- and middle-income countries, while developing, is more limited. Priority is given in this bibliography to several sources of physical activity evidence from low- and middle-income countries.
Reference Works
The US Surgeon General’s Report on Physical Activity and Health (National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion 1996, cited under National Guidelines: United States) was a landmark document in compiling and publishing the breadth of evidence, to 1996, linking physical inactivity, health, and chronic disease. It was a catalyst in the United States, and more broadly in developed countries, for early development of guidelines and other reference works. The subsequent World Health Organization (WHO) Global Recommendations on Physical Activity for Health (World Health Organization 2010) and country-level national physical activity guidelines provide a comprehensive overview of the health benefits of physical activity. National Physical Activity Guideline Projects have followed in the United States, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom. The US and Canadian guideline groups have published their evidence reviews in journals and have widely disseminated these via websites and conferences. For example, the Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee Report (Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion 2008, cited under National Guidelines: United States), from the Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee (PAGAC) of the US Department of Health and Human Services, provides a concise yet comprehensive summary of the evidence in relation to physical activity and health. The more recent reviews and published articles developed in preparation for the Canadian National Physical Activity Guidelines have reflected a further strengthening of the body of evidence linking physical activity with better health. The development of physical activity guidelines has been identified by the WHO and other authorities as an essential element in addressing national approaches to physical activity. World Health Organization 2009 provides detail on the contribution of physical inactivity to the global burden of disease. The report describes physical inactivity as the fourth leading risk factor for global mortality (6 percent of deaths globally). World Health Organization 2010 is a report on global recommendations for physical activity for health, urging member states to implement national guidelines on physical activity and encouraging them to develop policies and interventions that implement these guidelines. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published guidance for community action on physical activity. Promoting Physical Activity: A Guide for Community Action (Brown, et al. 2010, cited under National Guidelines: United States) is a comprehensive resource for physical activity practitioners and policymakers.
World Health Organization. 2009. Global health risks: Mortality and burden of disease attributable to selected major risks. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization.
Physical inactivity has been described by the WHO, in this 2009 publication on global health risks, as the fourth leading risk factor for global mortality (6 percent of deaths globally). A very useful resource to help advocates make the case for greater investment in physical activity policy and interventions.
World Health Organization. 2010. Global recommendations on physical activity for health. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization.
The WHO’s Global Recommendations on Physical Activity for Health contain a concise and most globally relevant summary of the public health benefits and significance of physical activity. The recommendations address three age groups: five to seventeen years, adults eighteen to sixty-four years, and older adults aged sixty-five years and above. This provides important benchmark information for monitoring, as well as guidance for program developers and for framing evidence-based public education.
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Article
- Abortion
- Access to Health Care
- Action Research
- Active Aging
- Active Living
- Addiction
- Adolescent Health, Socioeconomic Inequalities in
- Adolescent Risk-Taking Behavior in the United States
- Advocacy, Public Health
- Agricultural Safety and Public Health
- Air Quality: Health Effects
- Air Quality: Indoor Health Effects
- Alcohol Availability and Violence
- Alternative Research Designs
- Ambient Air Quality Standards and Guidelines
- American Perspectives on Chronic Disease and Control
- Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)
- Arts in Health
- Asbestos
- Asthma in Children
- Asthma, Work-Related
- Attachment as a Health Determinant
- Behavior
- Behavior Change Theory in Health Education and Promotion
- Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance
- Bicycling and Cycling Safety
- Bioethics
- Birth and Death Registration
- Birth Cohort Studies
- Board of Health
- Breastfeeding
- Built Environment and Health, The
- Business and Corporate Practices
- Cancer Communication Strategies in North America
- Cancer Prevention
- Cancer Screening
- Capacity Building
- Capacity Building for NCDs in LMICs
- Capacity-Building for Applied Public Health in LMIC: A US ...
- Cardiovascular Health and Disease
- Child Labor
- Child Maltreatment
- Children, Air Pollution and
- Children, Injury Risk-Taking Behaviors in
- Children, Obesity in
- Citizen Advisory Boards
- Climate Change and Human Health
- Climate Change: Institutional Response
- Clinical Preventive Medicine
- Community Air Pollution
- Community Development
- Community Gardens
- Community Health Assessment
- Community Health Interventions
- Community Partnerships and Coalitions
- Community-Based Participatory Research
- Complexity and Systems Theory
- Critical Health Literacy
- Cultural Capital and Health
- Cultural Safety
- Culture and Public Health
- Definition of Health
- Dental Public Health
- Design and Health
- Dietary Guidelines
- Directions in Global Public Health Graduate Education
- Driving and Public Health
- Ecological Approaches
- Enabling Factors
- Environmental Health, Pediatric
- Environmental Laws
- Environmental Protection Agency
- Ethics of Public Health
- Evidence-Based Pediatric Dentistry
- Evidence-Based Public Health Practice
- Family Planning Services and Birth Control
- Food Safety
- Food Security and Food Banks
- Food Systems
- Frail Elderly
- Functional Literacy
- Genomics, Public Health
- Geographic Information Systems
- Geography and Health
- Global Health
- Global Health Diplomacy
- Global Health Promotion
- Global Health Security
- Guide to Community Preventive Services, The
- Health Administration
- Health Communication
- Health Disparities
- Health Education
- Health Impact Assessment
- Health in All Policies
- Health in All Policies in European Countries
- Health Literacy
- Health Literacy and Noncommunicable Diseases
- Health Measurement Scales
- Health Planning
- Health Promoting Hospitals
- Health Promotion
- Health Promotion Foundations
- Health Promotion Workforce Capacity
- Health Promotion Workforce Capacity
- Health Systems of Low and Middle-Income Countries, The
- Healthy People Initiative
- Healthy Public Policy
- Hepatitis C
- High Risk Prevention Strategies
- Homelessness
- Human Rights, Health and
- Human Sexuality and Sexual Health: A Western Perspective
- IANPHI and National Public Health Institutes
- Immigrant Populations
- Immunization and Pneumococcal Infection
- Immunization in Pregnancy
- Indigenous Peoples, Public Health and
- Indigenous Populations of North America, Australasia, and ...
- Indoor Air Quality Guidelines
- Inequities
- Infant Mortality
- Internet Applications in Promoting Health Behavior
- Intersectoral Action
- Intersectoral Strategies in Low - Middle Income Countries ...
- Justice, Social
- Knowledge Translation and Exchange
- Knowledge Utilization and Exchange
- Law of Public Health in the United States
- Media Advocacy
- Mental Health
- Mental Health Promotion
- Migrant Health
- Migrant Worker Health
- Motor Vehicle Injury Prevention
- Multi-Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis
- Nanotechnology
- National Association of Local Boards of Health
- National Public Health Institutions
- Needs Assessment
- Needs Assessments in International Disasters and Emergenci...
- Obesity Prevention
- Occupational Cancers
- Occupational Exposure to Benzene
- Occupational Exposure to Erionite
- Occupational Safety and Health
- Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
- Oral Health Equity for Minority Populations in the United ...
- Ottawa Charter
- Parenting and Work
- Parenting Skills and Capacity
- Participatory Action Research
- Patient Decision Making
- Pesticide Exposure and Pesticide Health Effects
- Pesticides
- Physical Activity and Exercise
- Physical Activity Promotion
- Pneumoconiosis
- Polio Eradication in Pakistan
- Population Aging
- Population Determinants of Unhealthy Foods and Beverages
- Population Health Objectives and Targets
- Precautionary Principle
- Prenatal Health
- Preparedness
- Program Evaluation in American Health Education
- Program Planning and Evaluation
- Public Health, History of
- Public Health Surveillance
- Public-Private Partnerships in Public Health Research and ...
- Public-Private Partnerships to Prevent and Manage Obesity ...
- Quackery as a Public Health Problem
- Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment
- Racism as a Structural Determinant of Health
- Radiation Emergencies and Public Health: Impacts, Prepared...
- Randomized Controlled Trials
- Real World Evaluation Strategies
- Reducing Obesity-Related Health Disparities in Hispanic an...
- Research Integrity in Public Health
- Resilient Health Systems
- Rural Health in the United States
- Safety, Patient
- School Health Programs in the Pacific Region
- Sex Education in HIV/AIDS Prevention
- Silicosis
- Skin Cancer Prevention
- Smoking Cessation
- Social Determinants of Health
- Social Epidemiology
- Social Marketing
- Statistics in Public Health
- STI Networks, Patterns, and Control Strategies
- Stillbirths
- Suicide
- Sustainable Development Goals
- Systems in the United States, Public Health
- Systems Modeling and Big Data for Non-Communicable Disease...
- Systems Theory in Public Health
- Traditional, Complementary, Alternative, and Integrative M...
- Translation of Science to Practice and Policy
- Traumatic Stress and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
- Tuberculosis among Adults and the Determinants of Health
- UK Public Health Systems
- Unintentional Injury Prevention
- Urban Health
- Vaccination, Mandatory
- Vaccine Hesitancy
- Vermiculite
- Violence Prevention
- Vulnerability, Intersectionality and Health in Migration
- War
- Water Quality
- Water Quality and Water-Related Disease
- Weight Management in US Occupational Settings
- Welfare States, Public Health and Health Inequalities
- Workforce
- Worksite Health Promotion
- World Health Organization (WHO)