Parks key to physical activity
The research found that more people exercised at parks after they'd been upgraded. Image: oversnap/iStockphoto Improving community health could lie in the quality of neighbourhood parks, a Deakin University study has found.Health researchers with Deakin’s Centre for Physical Activity and Nutrition Research examined whether improvements to parks increased usage and park-based physical activity of users. They found significant increases in the number of visitors and levels of exercise undertaken at one park after the facilities had been upgraded.“Parks are important places for people to spend their leisure time and be physically active,” explained Deakin health researcher Dr Jenny Veitch.“Understanding how we can attract residents to spend time at local parks and encourage them to be more physically active is an important public health initiative. This is particularly the case in disadvantaged neighbourhoods where residents are at increased risk of being inactive which can lead to poor health.”For the study, the researchers examined...