Health Resources

These references consider health statistics and how walking, biking, and our built environment affect health.

State of Obesity 2016
This report considers childhood and adult obesity trends and the most effective interventions.  It is also the source of the statistics showing Arkansas has the highest physical inactivity rate, 3rd highest adult obesity rate, 4th highest high school obesity rate, 4th highest adult diabetes rate, and 4th highest adult hypertension rate in the country. 

Studies Show That Bike Commuting...Healthy 2013
This article summarizes several scientific papers to conclude that bike commuting helps to prevent weight gain and promote health.  Most commuting occurs on streets with bike lanes or separated paths; installing bike infrastructure promotes public health.

Automobile Commuting Promotes Weight Gain Takemi Sugiyama et al 2013
This article summarizes a paper showing that people who commute by automobile tend to gain more weight over time than those that do not typically commute by car.

Walkable Communities Decrease Obesity Risk Slater et al 2013
The odds of students being overweight decrease with walkability scores.  Little Rock has the worst walkability out of all 52 CEOs for Cities communities (pg. 5).

Health Benefits of Active Transportation
1) Active travel increases overall physical activity, 2) Active travel decreases diabetes risk

Active Transportation Associated with Lower BMI
This is yet another paper showing that active transportation promotes health by lowering BMI and percent body fat.  

Walking's Health Benefits
This article summarizes multiple scientific studies showing the health benefits of walking.

The Obesity Epidemic and Careers to Shrink It 
This page offers excellent resources about obesity in the U.S. and educational and career opportunities to address it.