WEDNESDAY, July 24, 2002 (HealthDayNews) -- The floors might creak and the roof might leak, but your old house just might be good for you in a way you wouldn't expect.
People who live in old houses in urban areas do a lot more walking than people who live in newer homes, new research says.
In fact, people who live in houses built before 1974 are 50 percent more likely to walk a mile or more at least 20 times a month, compared to people in newer homes.
Researchers assume the older houses are in more crowded neighborhoods, where the streets are geared for pedestrians with sidewalks, and shops, schools and churches are likely to be nearby.
In contrast, newer suburbs tend to have winding streets that often end in cul-de-sacs, making it more difficult to navigate from place to place. Also, there's often nowhere to walk to. Kids take the bus. Stores are within driving, not walking, distance.
"This is one study among many now that have suggested there is an association between features of the neighborhood, and people's levels of physical activity," says lead author David Berrigan, a cancer prevention fellow at the National Cancer Institute. "The message of all these studies taken together is it's worth supporting planning efforts in your own community that help make the environment better."
The study appears in the August supplement on physical activity in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
The impact of neighborhood design on physical activity is of increasing interest to urban planners and public health experts. Even though there are health clubs in every town, the nation keeps growing fatter.
Encouraging people to get enough physical activity means helping them incorporate exercise into everyday life activities, says Fiona Bull, a research scientist in the division of nutrition and physical activity at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Neighborhoods built in a way that encourages walking might play a key role. This means communities that are safe, that have plenty of parks, recreation areas, sidewalks and cycling trails, as well as mixed-use zoning to permit stores and other destinations near housing.
"It's become a major focus of our interest because we know we have to provide the opportunities and supports for people to be physical active," says Bull, who adds that the current study is consistent with earlier research. "It's not just a matter of telling people to be fit."
Berrigan and his colleagues used data from NHANES III, a national survey of 17,030 adults who were asked, among other topics, about their walking behavior and the age of their homes.
Among people who lived in newer homes, about 10 percent said they walked a mile or more five times a week. In the older homes, about 15 percent of residents said they walked a mile or more five times a week.
It's a statistically significant difference, Berrigan says, but it still means most people are not doing nearly enough walking to maintain physical fitness.
Public health recommendations advise people to do moderate exercise for a minimum of a half hour five or more times a week.
Berrigan acknowledges one weakness of the study is that there was no guarantee that all the older houses are in neighborhoods built to encourage walking. He also says it's unclear whether people who like to walk move to neighborhoods in which it's more convenient to walk.
He adds, however, that the correlation between old homes and walking was not found in rural counties.
What To Do
Walkable Cities and New Urbanism are non-profit groups working to promote more pedestrian-friendly streets.
