An open goal (draft)

This is a blog post that started being put together a long time ago. The basic idea was to gather evidence supporting the extremely simple proposition that if we took seriously the task of getting people to be more active there would be very large benefits to public health and personal well being. In addition, it would mean that the overstretched NHS would see fewer people coming through the door with entirely preventable illnesses and be better able to cope with the rest. It might also have made the point that what we've got at the moment isn't so much a health service as an illness service.

I'd already produced a few posts on this topic. Most notably the first "If it were a drug" and a follow up "The cost of sitting around in North Yorkshire" that used official studies to estimate some of the costs of physical activity in my home county 

So, what follows is the draft post as I find it today, including the slightly weird introductory paragraph that looks like it belongs somewhere else. I can only suspect that I was going to mention the organisation "Transport 2000" (now re-named The Campaign for Better Transport) that looked forward to the days when we'd take walking and cycling seriously as ways of getting about our towns and cities. 


As a child I used to imagine what it would be like in the year 2000. Apart from the obvious personal calculation - I'd be 46 - there was also the assumption that we'd lead our lives in very different ways. The millennium now feels like quite a long time ago. 

One in three cases of Alzheimer's are preventable

Inactivity drives obesity? 

Obesity linked to urban design and time spent in a car

Six seconds of exercise

Dr Bhaskaran said he hoped the findings would help governments take "courageous action" to tackle the obesity. "It will require action in various different areas. We need to look at how the most offending foods are the cheapest and most available and how [towns] are not set up for activity. We need support for people to lose weight. It is a big challenge."

Walking and cycling to work improves well being.


Thrill seeking sedent at The onion

Lancet article on health impact of physical activity (used in HIPI)

Promoting cycling is good for jobs

Fitness not fatness

Car dependency and mental health

Physiological dysregulation

Lack of adequate appreciation of physical exercise's complexities can pre-empt appropriate design and interpretation in scientific discovery

2012 Nice Report "We all face barriers in changing our lifestyles and many of us feel we don't have the time or the inclination to add regular physical activity into our lives. But walking and cycling – to work, to school, to the shops or elsewhere – can make a huge difference. It's an opportunity to make these activities part of normal, routine daily behaviour."

Royal College of Psychiatrists. Physical activity can reduce stress, anxiety and depression.

American retirees are looking for walkable communities.

NHS report An hour of exercise might compensate for an office life style

Active lessons can boost learning. Loughborough Universtiy project

Cars are the new tobacco  Journal of Public Health 2011

Psychology of attitudes to cycling

Barriers to cycling

Them and us Myth of the blameless cyclist

"This is the other key point – free parking is fundamentally regressive, a subsidy to people who tend to be richer than average. Many politicians, and newspapers, see the car as the default travel choice for everyone, and of course if you’re outside a town or city, often dreadful public transport means a motor vehicle might be your only means of getting to the nearest hospital." https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jan/02/free-hospital-parking-daily-mirror-jeremy-corbyn

Walking with your doctor ?

Moderate or vigorous Try the "talk test" 

Exercise can slow the aging process ( a study of elderly cyclists)

Get up now and then and move about (the benefits of breaking up prolonged sitting) With particular reference to Diabetes

From Public Health England 2018

"Over the past 30 years, physical activity has declined significantly in the UK. For example, in England, the average distance walked per person per year for transport purposes fell from 255 miles in 1975/76 to 192 miles in 2003. Distances cycled fell from 51 miles per person per year to 34 miles over the same time period, while car use increased by over 10%. Although the average commuting  distance is increasing, one-fifth of all journeys of less than one mile are made by car.35,60 The proportion of the population in an occupation requiring substantial physical effort has also declined." Tackling Obesities: Future Choices – Project report

A study of Children's independent mobility. Mayer Hillman, John Adams and John Whitelegg.

Cars don't just choke children they tear a hole in our communities. George Monbiot

Car ownership and the rise of extreme individualism. George Monbiot

Motor vehicles and the impact on quality of life in urban areas. A study in Bristol

The lifestyle factors that cause cancer – and why many people are still confused by the risks from The Conversation.

Tip of the tongue moments less likely in fitter older people.

Ditching the car may reduce the risks of heart disease and stroke by almost a third.