November 2017 - Parks & Recreation - 36

HEALTH AND WELLNESS
Improving Military Readiness Through Physical Activity
How park and recreation departments can help
By Hayley Hamilton, David Brown, Heather Devlin, Janet Fulton, Allison Colman and Maureen Acquino

N

early one in four young adults are not healthy enough to serve in our military because they are overweight or obese. Regular physical activity can
help people maintain a healthy body weight and protect against chronic
Illnesses, such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers. Physical activity provides many health and fitness benefits, such as improved body composition, aerobic and muscular fitness, balance and flexibility, which can contribute
to military readiness. Physical activity is also associated with positive mental health,
improved quality of life and emotional well-being.
The 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines
for Americans (https://health.gov/paguidelines/guidelines/), produced by
the Office of Disease Prevention and
Health Promotion, recommends that
children and adolescents get about 60
minutes of physical activity every day
and at least three days per week of
muscle-strengthening activities. Despite the recommendations, only about
one-quarter of high school students in
the United States get the recommended
amounts of aerobic physical activity.
And, only about 2 in 10 (20.5 percent)

high school students meet the physical
activity guidelines for both aerobic and
muscle-strengthening activities.
Increasing physical activity among
youth calls for a multi-sectoral approach,
and federal and non-governmental organizations alike see a vital role for parks
and recreation. The Office of the Surgeon
General in the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services, the Community
Preventive Services Task Force and the
National Physical Activity Plan Alliance
have each released guidance on how
parks and recreation can help communi-

UNFIT

TO SERVE

O B E S IT Y

IS IMPACTING NATIONAL SECURITY
THE PROBLEM
Almost 1 in 5 children
and more than
1 in 3 adults
in the U.S. struggle
with obesity.

Only half of adults
and about one
quarter of youth
get recommended
amounts of aerobic
physical activity.

Nearly 1 in 4
young adults are
too heavy to serve
in our military.

Over the last decade, we have experienced increasing difficulty in recruiting soldiers due to the
decline in the health of our nation's youth. Unless we see significant change in physical activity and
nutrition in America our national security will be affected.
Mark Hertling, Lieutenant General, U.S. Army (Retired)

34

Parks & Recreation

| N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 7 | W W W. PA R K S A N D R E C R E AT I O N . O R G

ties promote safe and easy opportunities
for physical activity.
These documents recommend a combination of built environment and programmatic approaches to increasing physical
activity. One strategy to increase physical activity among young people is to
provide greater access to safe and convenient places to be active, such as parks,
trails and recreational facilities. Parks
and recreation offers a wide range of
close-to-home facilities and services at
low or no cost to most Americans.
The Center for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) offers the following
" Three Ds of Physically Active Communities " prescription:
1. Design communities and streets that
make being physically active safe and
easy for people of all ages and abilities;
2. Develop or enhance access to places
for physical activity; and
3. Deliver community programs that
help people be physically active.
Parks and recreation can play a role in
each element of this prescription, as illustrated by the following success stories:
* A success story on community design
to increase safety and physical activity comes from the city of Houghton,
Michigan, which gradually acquired a
stretch of shoreline property to improve
access to its waterfront. The city replaced industrial ruins with parks, marinas and paved bicycle and pedestrian
trails as recommended by the Community Preventive Services Task Force.
These trails now connect the city center
to parks and residential districts.
* A success story on developing or enhancing access to parks comes from
San Francisco, which recently became



November 2017 - Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of November 2017 - Parks & Recreation

November 2017 - Parks & Recreation - 1
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