A Guide to Exercise and Lifestyle
Barriers to Engaging in Physical Activity
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According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2022), in a majority of states, 1 in 5 adults are inactive.
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Common Barriers
There are standard barriers that are familiar to many of us that can prevent us from exercising, such as a perceived lack of time and a lack of motivation.
The CDC and the American Heart Association (AMH) provide tips on possible ways to get through these obstacles.
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Click these links to check out these resources:
Social and Institutional Barriers
There are also social and institutional factors that can impact someone's ability to engage in physical activity.
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Social determinants of health refer to the circumstances a person grows up in, lives in, and frequents and how the systems and institutions that shape these circumstances can impact one's health (CDC, 2022).
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An individual will often not be able to easily change these factors.
The neighborhood
one lives in can play a major role in their willingness to engage in PA.
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1
Socioeconomic Barriers
Low income people and racial/ethnic minorities have greater rates of living in neighborhoods with greater risks to health and safety hazards (CDC, 2022).
2
Lack of Recreational Spaces
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Low-income neighborhoods are less likely to have convenient recreational spaces (Salvo, Banda, Sheats, Winter, Santos & King, 2017).
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The green spaces that can exist in low-income neighborhoods are often unkept and small (Spencer, Lynch, Lawrence & Edwards, 2020).
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The cost of recreational activities can turn away engagement from low-income individuals (Salvo et al., 2017)
3
Negative Perceptions of Neighborhood
People living in low-income neighborhoods who negatively viewed their neighborhood had higher associations with being inactive (Spencer, Lynch, Lawrence, & Edwards, 2020).
Increasing recreational spaces in neighborhoods could:
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increase physical activity engagement
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provide safe and convenient ways for people to be physically active outdoors
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improve people's physical and emotional well-being
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build community connections
(Salvo et al., 2017)
How do we increase these spaces?
Watch this video to learn about a possible solution:
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022, January 20). CDC releases updated maps of America’s high levels of inactivity. CDC Newsroom. https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2022/p0120-inactivity-map.html.
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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022, October 13). Social determinants of health. https://www.cdc.gov/abou.t/sdoh/index.html.
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Salvo, D., Banda, J. A., Sheats, J. L., Winter, S. J., Lopes Dos Santos, D., & King, A. C. (2017). Impacts of a temporary urban pop-up park on physical activity and other individual and community-level outcomes. Journal of Urban Health, 94(4), 470-481. https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/10.1007/s11524-017-0167-9.
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Spencer, L. H., Lynch, M., Lawrence, C. L., & Rhiannon, T. E. (2020). A scoping review of how income affects accessing local green space to engage in outdoor physical activity to improve well-being: implications for post-COVID-19. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(24), 9313. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17249313.
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