Heart diseases cause many deaths in North America.
They are also a big burden for the sick person and their family. One way to avoid heart disease is to be active.
There is now a lot of talk about how our towns and cities can help us be more active.
What Researchers Did
A group of scientists, led by Professor Mohammad Javad Koohsari from Japan, did a study.
He had help from Professor Koichiro Oka from Waseda University, Professor Tomoki Nakaya from Tohoku University, and Associate Professor Gavin R. McCormack from the University of Calgary in Canada.
They wanted to find out if making a city more walkable would help people be healthier.
They thought if they could find a new way to measure walkability, it might help city planners design healthier towns and cities.
The way they measured this is with something called the space syntax walkability index.
The Study and the Data
They studied data from 7,171 people who were part of a big project in Alberta, Canada. These people lived in cities, gave samples of their blood and urine, and filled out a health and lifestyle survey.
With this data, the researchers could look at the two ways of measuring walkability – the old way and the new way (the space syntax walkability index). This new way looked at how easy it was to get from one street to another.
What They Found
Professor Koohsari and his team found out that the new walkability measure was linked to lower blood pressure in men. It was also linked to less obesity in both men and women.
That means people living in cities that are easy to walk in have less risk of heart disease.
So, how can city planners use this information to make our cities healthier?
They can change our towns and cities to help people make healthier choices every day. They could make changes that help people be more active.
Dr. Koohsari says this new way to measure walkability can help city planners find areas of the city that need improvement. They can then focus on these areas to make them more walkable.
This would help the people living there be healthier and have less risk of heart disease. However, more studies are needed to understand this better.
Changes in our lifestyle and cities don’t have to make us unhealthy. With the right planning, our towns and cities can help us be healthier. This study is a step in the right direction.
If you care about heart health, please read studies that yogurt may help lower the death risks of heart disease and natural coconut sugar could help reduce blood pressure and artery stiffness.
For more information about health, please see recent studies that Vitamin D deficiency can increase heart disease risk, and results showing vitamin B6 linked to lower death risk in heart disease.
The study was published in Preventive Medicine.
Copyright © 2023 Knowridge Science Report. All rights reserved.
