Walkable neighborhoods: Better health

It's well-established that walking is good for you. If you seen this blog before, chances are you've seen several blog postings about walking and other exercises as stroke prevention tools.

Sadly, not everyone have good access to places for walking. And that is not good for public health. More people walking means more people in better health. Here's a recent article about how walkable neighborhoods mean less obesity and diabetes:

Photo from U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention

Results from the research, which also sought to determine the best measures of "walkability" for public policy purposes, were published online January 14 in PLOS One by Richard H. Glazier, MD, from St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, and colleagues.

"While interventions to prevent obesity and promote healthy body weight are most often aimed at individuals, there is a growing recognition of upstream environmental factors, including the urban built environment, as potential targets for intervention," the authors write."

Diabetes and obesity are two stroke risk factors. Do you live in a walkable neighborhood? Then use it!