By Crystal Park
WASHINGTON (VR) – The US capital has been named the "fittest" city in the U.S. by the American College of Sports Medicine. The 2014 American Fitness Index is an annual report that ranks American cities based on four categories: chronic health problems, health behaviors, physical environments and recreational facilities.
Researchers found D.C. has superior physical environments and recreational facilities. "Not only are there are lot of parks, but the city leaders of Washington have put the resources into the park system, which makes it very inviting, which makes it very safe for people to exercise," says Walt Thompson, a Regents Professor of Kinesiology at the American College of Sports Medicine.
It's no coincidence then, says Thompson, that the fittest cities also happen to spend more money on their facilities. "The cities that appear in the top of our list, the first five to 10 cities, do spend a considerable more amount of money on a category we call park related expenditures. This is the amount of money that the city invests per capita, per person in their park system. The target is $101.80. Washington spends $398 per capita on their parks."
In addition to D.C.'s health friendly facilities and natural resources, Washingtonians themselves live healthier lives. Only 13.2% of Washingtonians are cigarette smokers, compared to up to 25% in the highest cities. Obesity rates are lower in D.C. too- 24% of its population is obese, compared to 33% in fatter cities.
It could be interpreted that Washingtonians make healthier life choices, but that wouldn't paint the whole picture. The researchers found that people in D.C. eat more fruits and veggies than other cities because there's more access to fresh produce. "The goal for all of our cities for farmers markets is 13.1 per 1 million inhabitants. Washington is 28.5 markets per 1 million. So more than twice the number we could consider the target," says Thompson.
The Fitness Index is more than just bragging rights for the fittest city; researchers are taking their findings to cities trailing on the list to educate city officials who can make changes. Thompson explains, "It's a two pronged approach. In the first phase, we're simply providing the information. But we've also found in some cities there are two groups of targets that we can work with. One is the city officials. The other group is grassroots coalitions that are saying to us we need to lobby ourselves. We need to make changes ourselves to make us healthier because we're not getting the help we need from our city or our city resources."
Joining Washington, D.C. in the top five are Minneapolis-St. Paul; Portland, OR; Denver; San Francisco. In the bottom five are Nashville, Indianapolis, Oklahoma City, Louisville and Memphis coming in last.
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