Publications about physical activity

Toolkit for developing local strategies (UK)

07 Oct 2008 | Entitled 'Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives: A toolkit for developing local strategies', this sizeable (5MB) pdf is 'a toolkit is to help [UK] PCTs and Local Authorities plan, coordinate and implement comprehensive strategies to prevent and manage overweight and obesity. It provides information and tools including useful statistics, practical initiatives, evidence of effectiveness, checklists, frameworks and examples of good practice.'

Fit City in Smartmoves | 1.4 MB

06 Oct 2008 | This short article (at the bottom of the pages) about OxHA's Fit City competition appears in the UK Department of Transport's Smartmoves magazine, issue 5 (October 2008). The full magazine can be found at http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/sustainable/smarterchoices/smartmoves/issue5smartmove.pdf

Design for play

30 Sep 2008 | This UK document, 'Design for play: a guide for creating successful play spaces', is intended primarily for commissioners and designers of children’s play areas, to support good practice in the development and improvement of public play space. It presents guiding principles, suggested approaches and aims to inspire innovative and creative ideas.

Change4Life

10 Sep 2008 | The Change4Life initiative is a government scheme to bring together multiple stakeholders to help to 'change the lives of families in England by improving their diet, exercise and attitude to good health'. It is a national movement, launched in autumn 2008 before a major publicity campaign starts in January 2009.

Neighbourhood design and physical activity

01 Sep 2008 | The article by Lee and Moudon was published in Building Research & Information 36(5). It surveyed nearly 700 people in Washington state to assess what motivates them to take physical activity (walking/cycling) in their local area – reasons cited include social aspects (knowing neighbours, availability of benches), safety (seeing others walking/cycling, traffic calming, streetlighting, bike lanes), aesthetics (street trees, visual quality of the neighbourhood), available destinations (e.g. shops within walking distance) and availability of sports facilities and bike racks.

The growing cost of obesity: three years on

22 Aug 2008 | In 2006, Access Economics released a report for Diabetes Australia, which was quite conservative in its projections of obesity prevalence and estimates of attributable fractions for conditions associated with obesity. This current report seeks to use new data that have become available subsequently to update the estimates.

Workplace wellness: the food industry | 1.2 MB

24 Jul 2008 | This short brochure, 'Workplace wellness: the food industry in action', from the Food and Drink Federation, is a series of case studies from its member companies, promoting the positive changes they have made to health in their workplaces, including Danone, Mars UK and Tate & Lyle. More information also here: https://www.fdf.org.uk/workplace_communities.aspx

Obesity prevention in children

30 Jun 2008 | This report, available to read and download free, is a summary of a June 2008 Institute of Medicine (US) workshop on 'Community perspectives on obesity prevention in children'. It describes various locally-based childhood obesity prevention programs, their challenges and promises.

Obesity: should there be a law against it?

25 Jun 2008 | This series of open-access articles draws on an Australia and New Zealand Health Policy conference in 2006. It includes contributions from Boyd Swinburn and Roger Magnusson (who also edited the series).

OxHA workplace health programme | 41.2 kB

18 Jun 2008 | A short introduction to the OxHA approach to workplace health (see also the 'Initiatives' section of this website).

Cycling: getting Australia moving | 3.1 MB

04 Jun 2008 | Report by the Cycling Promotion Fund states that cycling – to work or for leisure – saves the health industry an estimated Aus $227.2 million a year. Cycling to work in Australia is on the rise, up from 50,648 in 2001 to 62,032 in 2006 – but only 20% of these are women, and the numbers are still low because of poor infrastructure and safety concerns.

NICE: Physical activity in the workplace

28 May 2008 | 'Promoting physical activity in the workplace' is 'intervention guidance on workplace health promotion with reference to physical activity' from the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) in the UK. The 'guidance is for employers and professionals in small, medium and large organisations who have a direct or indirect role in, and responsibility for, improving health in the workplace. This includes those working in the NHS, local authorities and the wider public, voluntary, community and private sectors, especially those working in human resources or occupational health.'

Worldwide variability in physical inactivity

22 May 2008 | This article, a 51-country survey of primarily low- and middle-income countries, is from the American Journal of Preventive Medicine and is by Guthold et al. It analyses data from over 200,000 people, and shows that 15% of men and 20% of women are at risk for chronic diseases due to physical inactivity. Sedentarism is higher among urban populations, women and older age groups.

Proof of the pudding

30 Apr 2008 | This document is a presentation summarising the results of a benchmarking of '10 of the world's largest food companies' response to obesity and related health concerns'. It is published by JP Morgan and Insight Investment, and includes recommendations and case studies.

Health, place and nature - Powerpoint | 3.6 MB

31 Mar 2008 | This is a slide set launched in conjunction with a pdf document 'Health, place and nature - how outdoor environments influence health and well-being: a knowledge base', published by the UK's Sustainable Development Commission.

Health, place and nature | 325.2 kB

31 Mar 2008 | Subtitled 'How outdoor environments influence health and well-being: a knowledge base', this brings together evidence on how exposure to natural spaces is good for health. It is published by the UK's Sustainable Development Commission, and was released in conjunction with a slide set (also posted here), which all are encouraged to use.

Urban health and healthy weights | 1.6 MB

18 Mar 2008 | The 'State of the Evidence Review on Urban Health and Healthy Weights' brings together findings of hundreds of population health studies, highlighting aspects of the urban environment that affect our ability to maintain a healthy weight. Its main message is that 'evidence exists for associations between aspects of the urban environment and behaviours contributing to obesity.' It is written by the Canadian Population Health Initiative.

CVD and risk factors in England

31 Jan 2008 | This document is the Health Survey for England 2006, and contains information on CVD and the risk factors, including smoking, obesity, physical activity, fruit/veg consumption etc. It includes statistics on these risk factors broken down by household income quintile.

NICE Guidance on Physical Activity | 304.6 kB

23 Jan 2008 | 'Promoting and creating built or natural environments that encourage and support physical activity' is Public Health Guidance 8 from the UK's National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. They are the first national, evidence-based recommendations on how to improve the environment to encourage physical activity - and encourage the involvement of architects/planners, schools, transport agencies, etc.

Healthy weight, healthy lives | 1.9 MB

23 Jan 2008 | This 'cross-government strategy for England' includes the ambition for the country to be the first to 'reverse the rising tide of obesity and overweight'. It focuses particularly on childhood obesity, and takes a holistic view of how to address the 'obesogenic environment' - linking personal responsibility with the responsibility of government to facilitate healthy choices.