That's Fit

This morning I had the drive to exercise. As the sun rose above the horizon I slipped on my running shoes and jogged a couple miles around the neighborhood -- just me and the birds. I did run past an older gentleman who happily yelled, "Isn't this a beautiful morning?" While I'd never met him before, I felt we shared a special secret.

But after reading about a recent study on the influence of neighborhoods on exercise levels, I need to remind myself how fortunate I am to be surrounded by a clean, safe, sidewalk-filled neighborhood to walk, jog or bike whenever the urge strikes.

Published recently in Urban Studies, the study examined 8,782 people across 373 Chicago neighborhoods. Reearchers discovered people residing in neighborhoods with higher poverty, lower education and more women-led families don't exercise as much. For women, neighborhood was more important in determining exercise levels than for men. Influencing factors included trust and helping among neighbors and perceived community violence.

Most surprising, when it came to exercise, neighborhood mattered more than income. How easy it is to forget many people cannot step outside their door and take a walk each day without feeling unsafe. Also, they probably don't have a nice fitness center nearby to join either. Lack of exercise is not necessarily lack of motivation. I never jogged early morning or after dark when I lived in my congested, northside Chicago neighborhood. I didn't know my neighbors either.