When physical activity meets the physical environment: precision health insights from the intersection

Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine

Hind Sbihi¹  Chris Carlsten²  Brian E. Saelens³  Michael S. Koehle⁴  Luisa V. Giles⁵ 

[1] British Columbia Centre for Disease Control, 655 West 12th Ave, V5Z 4R4, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada;Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, 2775 Laurel Street, 10th Floor, V5Z 1M9, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada;Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, 2775 Laurel Street, 10th Floor, V5Z 1M9, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada;Legacy for Airway Health, 2775 Laurel Street, 7th Floor, V5Z 1M9, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada;School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, 2206 East Mall, V6T 1Z3, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada;Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington, and Seattle Children’s Research Institute, 2001 Eighth Ave, Suite 400, 98121, Seattle, Washington, USA;School of Kinesiology, University of British Columbia, 210-6081 University Boulevard, V6T 1Z1, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada;Division of Sport & Exercise Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, 2553 Wesbrook Mall, V6T 1Z3, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada;School of Kinesiology, University of the Fraser Valley, 45190 Caen Ave, V2R 0N3, Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada;

关键词: Walkability;    Green space;    Air pollution;    Heat;    Physical activity;    Precision health;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12199-021-00990-w

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe physical environment can facilitate or hinder physical activity. A challenge in promoting physical activity is ensuring that the physical environment is supportive and that these supports are appropriately tailored to the individual or group in question. Ideally, aspects of the environment that impact physical activity would be enhanced, but environmental changes take time, and identifying ways to provide more precision to physical activity recommendations might be helpful for specific individuals or groups. Therefore, moving beyond a “one size fits all” to a precision-based approach is critical.Main bodyTo this end, we considered 4 critical aspects of the physical environment that influence physical activity (walkability, green space, traffic-related air pollution, and heat) and how these aspects could enhance our ability to precisely guide physical activity. Strategies to increase physical activity could include optimizing design of the built environment or mitigating of some of the environmental impediments to activity through personalized or population-wide interventions.ConclusionsAlthough at present non-personalized approaches may be more widespread than those tailored to one person’s physical environment, targeting intrinsic personal elements (e.g., medical conditions, sex, age, socioeconomic status) has interesting potential to enhance the likelihood and ability of individuals to participate in physical activity.

【 授权许可】

CC BY