Written by the National Physical Activity Plan Alliance (NPAPA)
On February 23-24,2015, over 250 professionals in public health, education, government, and mediaattended the 2015 National Physical Activity Plan (NPAP) Congress in Washington, D.C. The Congress provided attendees with numerous opportunities to hear about recent advances in the physical activity and public health field as well as to provide crucial feedback on the update of the NPAP. One of many highlights during the NPAP Congress was the keynote session delivered by Mark Fenton, ‘Changing the rules to support physical activity.’
During his thought provoking talk, Fenton focused on environment and policy changes that support physical activity as part of daily life and explored one core question:
‘Can we simply “scale up” physical activity promotions of recent decades, or do we need to fundamentally change our approach?’
In his opening statement, Mark quickly pointed out that the U.S. is not suffering from just an obesity epidemic but we also face epidemics of physical inactivity and poor nutrition. While a number of factors contribute to our low activity levels, Fenton comes to this conclusion – ‘It’s the environment, stupid!’
For the remainder of his talk, Fenton made the case for a focus on:
- environmental and policy change with an eye toward high risk populations;
- innovative approaches that support not just exercise, but routine physical activity as part of daily life; and
- collaboration between sectors to assure comprehensive impact.
A standing ovation followed Fenton’s closing comments and now we want to hear from you!
As a nation, how do you think we should move forward in promoting physical activity – scale up physical activity promotion efforts or fundamentally change our approach?
What environment and policy changes do you think the U.S. should prioritize to increase physical activity?