- Active transport depends on local mobility and connectivity.
- The space where we work affects our diet and physical activity.
- Schools can promote healthy habits from an early age.
Healthy lifestyle habits, such as healthy eating and frequent physical activity, save lives. An adequate diet can prevent the death of nearly 1 in 4 adults (up to 24%). Increasing physical activity also positively impacts cardiovascular diseases, several types of cancer, chronic respiratory diseases, mental health, and diabetes. Despite this being a reality corroborated by the scientific community and efforts by governments to communicate it, obesity, sedentary lifestyles, and poor eating habits continue to rise. The most affected areas are low- and middle-income countries, such as Ecuador, which the CEAD project (Contextualization of Evidence for Action in Diabetes) has taken as a reference. According to the CEAD research team, people’s physical and social environments are among the factors that most influence their health. For this reason, they propose a paradigm shift in the way healthy lifestyle habits are encouraged. Instead of focusing all efforts on modifying individual behavior through motivational or educational means, they argue that it is preferable to create health-promoting environments through policy actions.
Some national policy actions have proven effective, such as implementing higher taxes on unhealthy products. The CEAD project proposes complementing these with local policies focused on three types of environments: outdoors, indoors, and schools.
Healthy outdoors (Download PDF in A1 size)
Active mobility is one of the key aspects of promoting physical activity in outdoor environments. In this sense, it is essential that the everyday places where people move around are connected by footpaths or bike lanes. Pedestrian crossings, trails, and bike lanes connecting residential areas, workplaces, educational centers, medical centers, or recreational sites provide a healthy alternative to the inactive mobility offered by motor vehicles. To encourage their use, they must be safe for both transit and parking of non-motorized vehicles. Accessibility is also important, with parking spaces for people with reduced mobility or free of architectural barriers. Night lighting and daytime shade, seating areas, playgrounds, and picnic areas make them more attractive. Including signs that indicate the distance or walking time to frequently visited places or local resources is also helpful. Paths, trails, and lanes should be well-designed and maintained, free of obstructions, with non-glare surfaces and tactile paving. Another useful measure is reallocating road space to prioritize pedestrians, cyclists, and other forms of active transport over motor vehicles.
Physical activity can also be encouraged through adequate sports facilities and equipment. Their use can be promoted by reducing fees, varying operating hours, or offering childcare services. It is also effective to provide a schedule of activities such as dancing, cycling, or swimming led by qualified professionals. All this should be complemented by community campaigns promoting awareness of their benefits.
Healthy eating can be encouraged through affordable prices and easily accessible locations by foot, public transport, or in rural communities. Food exchange networks, community gardens or greenhouses, and farmers’ markets are also helpful. Conversely, establishments offering unhealthy food and beverages should be limited.
Healthy Indoors (Download PDF in A1 size)
Physical activity can also be promoted indoors. In workplaces, the presence of well-designed and signposted stairs with signs highlighting their health benefits can encourage their use. In professional environments, it is also useful to provide employees access to a gym area complemented by locker rooms and showers. Generally, in infrastructures, facilities, and programs promoting physical activity, it is essential to ensure privacy in locker rooms, adequate lighting, proper maintenance, and offering mixed-gender and competitive activities.
Healthy eating can be encouraged in workplaces through posters, verbal messages, lower prices, and the placement of products with better nutritional properties, including vending machines. If menus are offered, it is beneficial to include information on caloric content. Alternatively, listing ingredients and describing cooking methods can also help. For packaged foods, a unique and easy-to-understand labeling system that clearly informs consumers is advisable. In this sense, it is recommended to establish regulatory penalties for companies that fail to comply with labeling requirements. Additionally, companies producing foods and beverages high in fat, sugar, or salt should have their promotion and sale through public resources restricted. Specifically, places frequented by children and young people, such as museums or recreational centers, should avoid sponsorship or sales of unhealthy products. Instead, it is preferable to offer more affordable, healthier options. Finally, public nutrition education programs should be accessible and encourage work-life balance. For this, they should be held in locations reachable on foot or by public transport and scheduled at times compatible with work and childcare responsibilities.
Healthy Schools (Download PDF in A1 size)
Students’ physical activity can be encouraged through public policies affecting school infrastructure and activities. Like workplaces, climbing and descending stairs can represent significant daily exercise in the long run. To encourage their use, they must be well-designed and signposted, including signs emphasizing their associated benefits. Similarly, informal walking or cycling groups can benefit their users and are especially recommended to involve school staff, students, and families. During school hours, awareness and motivation sessions for physical activity can be conducted. Promoting physical activity during recess is also advisable. Providing indoor and outdoor environments with sports facilities and equipment, always safe and properly maintained, is useful. Furthermore, after-school extracurricular activity programs that include physical exercise are recommended. Regarding mobility, active transport can be promoted with well-maintained routes, signage, and connectivity between commonly traveled areas.
Healthy eating can be improved in schools by making changes in cafeterias, classrooms, recess areas, or the surroundings of the school. School cafeterias offer significant possibilities for improvement. Examples include measures like offering alternatives for particular nutritional requirements and tastings of new items, attractively displaying fruits and vegetables, signaling the benefits of healthy foods, or establishing lower prices for them. During class hours, sessions encouraging healthy eating can be held and combined with providing students with fruit and vegetables during recess. To restrict access to unhealthy foods, it is also advisable to limit the number of establishments providing them near schools and regulate their distance and operating hours.
