For most folks I know, exercise is an activity. You need to carve out an hour for the gym, or 45 minutes for a run, or a Saturday morning for a soccer game, or a guest room for the Bowflex. Public policy has constructed an environment that does not, in any way, integrate exercise. Many suburbs don't have sidewalks, so you can't walk. Few communities are mixed use, so there's nowhere to walk to anyway. The traffic laws and road infrastructure are constructed so as to speed cars along, and thus biking is unsafe and few people do it. Other societies have created different lived environments, though. Matt Steinglass relates his experience in different cities:Recently, in a span of 3 weeks, I went from being somewhat out of shape to being reasonably in shape. I lost about 1.5 kilos, my posture improved, my skin got healthier. What exercise regime did I follow to accomplish this? I stayed in a rental house in the Netherlands for 3 weeks. In other words, I carried lots of stuff around and rode a bicycle about 10 km a day, just in the normal course of living.Last summer, in a span of about 4 weeks, the same transformation occurred. What exercise regime did I follow to accomplish that? I stayed at my parents’ apartment in Manhattan. In other words, I carried lots of stuff around and walked about 6 km a day, just in the normal course of living.In the normal course of living. Individuals can, of course, make commitments to their health and buy gym memberships and go every day and become healthier. But if you want a healthier society, that's how you do it: Make living in your society healthier. And before we get the inevitable comments whining about social engineering and the imposition of preferences, let me remind folks that we're already there: Mother Nature did not create the freeways. Gaea does not subsidize high fructose corn syrup. We are already imposing preferences through public policy, and though they have a certain set of advantages, they also tend to promote ill health. We could change that, if we wanted, and shape public policy such that it promoted health. We'd just have to decide to do so.Image used under a Creative Commons license from ClintJCL.
