Advocacy Project: Healthy People/THOMAS

Goal:

Improve health, fitness, and quality of life through daily physical activity

According to the Progress Quotient Chart, 7 of the 10 objectives have moved toward the target. However, unfortunately 3 of the 10 objectives moved away from the target. The objective that experienced the highest amount of progress was objective 22-11 (28%). The objective that back-tracked the most was objective 22-6 (-25%).

Expanding on the progress, disparities, opportunities & challenges, and emerging issues:

The highest amount of progress was seen in the decrease of television viewing in people ages 18+ (28% increase). However, the lowest amount of progress was seen in regular physical activity in people ages 18+ (6%). This shows that although more young adults are decreasing their television time, they aren't increasing their exercise time in place of watching TV. The objective that back-tracked the most was the increase in moderate physical activity in people ages 18+ (-25%). The objective that back-tracked the least was participation in daily physical activity in school: grades 9-12 (-5%). It is sad that this objective has moved away from the target because schools should be encouraging students to be physically active. Since students are at school for the majority of the day, they should be able to exercise and engage in physical activity.

The progress toward eliminating health disparities showed that the more educated one is, the more likely they are to be physically active. Other than that, all other disparities stayed somewhat constant over time. Also for most of the objectives, the best group rates for physical activity were the white population (non-Hispanic), with at least some college education, urban dwellers, males, and adults without disabilities.

Looking at the opportunities and challenges, it focuses on the fact that technology has ruled out the need to be physically active in many aspects of our lives, such as transportation, our jobs, and maintaining where and how we live. In the past, we needed to walk or bike to get around, use the stairs and not the elevators, garden/grow our own produce, and mow the lawn (manually). Advances in technology has made it so easy to do all these without hardly breaking a sweat. This section also mentions that certain groups are looking into ways to increase daily physical activity in the lives of the public. These groups include employers, school administrators, park and recreation managers, transportation engineers, and public health practitioners.

There a few emerging issues regarding this topic. First and foremost, public health practitioners are working to provide more access to suitable locations for physical activities such as more biking/hiking trails, and recreational facilities. They are also working to reduce certain barriers associated with facilities such as expensive membership fees and hours. By doing both of these, physical activity will be much easier for all public to access, and also improve the public health of communities.

Second, although advances in technology are leading people to live sedentary lives, it is also helping to come up with better ways to measure whether or not people are being physically active. Some advances in measurement methods include pedometers, motion detectors, and heart rate monitors.

Related bill from THOMAS:

SF2028

Title:

Parks and trails funding eligibility requirements and parks and trails fund appropriations priorities establishment.

Latest Major Action:

Referred to House Committee

Status:

4/02/2009 - Introduction and first reading

4/02/2009 - Referred to House Committee

Political Representative:

Amy Klobuchar