Blueprint Partners Progress Newsletter: June 2006

In This Issue

AoA National Prevention Summit Call for Abstracts
AARP Survey on Women’s Lives After Age 45
Health Care Costs Survey
Report on Improving the Health of Canadians
Online Fitness Quizzes: What’s Your Fitness Personality?
Eating Trends Explored in Report
Research Shows Exercise Can Reverse Ill Effects of Inactivity
Few Women Receive Exercise Counseling from Clinicians

________________________________________________

AoA National Prevention Summit Call for Abstracts
AoA is now accepting abstracts for oral and poster presentations at the 2006 National Prevention Summit: Prevention, Preparedness, and Promotion, to be held Oct. 26-27, 2006 in Washington, D.C. The agency encourages members of the National Aging Services Network to use this opportunity to share their health promotion and disease prevention successes and highlight innovative prevention programs. Abstract submission ends June 23. Summit registration began on June 15.

AARP Survey on Women’s Lives After Age 45
This spring AARP released the survey, “Looking at Act II of Women’s Lives: Thriving & Striving from 45 On,” which explores attitudes and experiences of American women in midlife and beyond. Survey results show that 65 percent of respondents consider themselves happier than they have ever been. Four in five women age 45+ consider their health “good” or better. Nine in 10 women say they are doing all they can to keep themselves healthy.

Regarding exercise, one in four women feel that exercise never seems to make a difference, and one in six say they feel embarrassed or self-conscious when they exercise. However, 58 percent say they would be more likely to exercise if they had a friend to exercise with.
www.aarp.org

Health Care Costs Survey
A comprehensive survey from USA Today, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and the Harvard School of Public Health examines how Americans are affected by health care costs. The survey includes insights into the barriers to obtaining health care and the alternative measures that people use to lower their medical and prescription drug bills.
Among the findings:

  • Nearly 30 percent of survey participants said they or someone in their family skipped medical treatment, cut pills, or did not fill a prescription in the past year because of the cost.
  • 35 percent of people with chronic health conditions reported not having enough money to pay for medical care in the past year.
  • 51 percent of Americans take prescription drugs on a daily basis, and 27 percent take three or more drugs daily.

www.kff.org/newsmedia

Report on Improving the Health of Canadians A report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information shows why the advice to simply eat better and exercise more is rarely effective, given the environmental and social factors involved in weight management. Improving the Health of Canadians: Promoting Healthy Weights provides an overview of the factors that play a role in Canadians’ body weights and examines policy options for promoting healthy weights in the community, schools, the workplace, and at home.

Online Fitness Quizzes: What’s Your Fitness Personality?
Your lifestyle and personality affect your physical activity levels. This online quiz by PBS suggests ways to build fitness into your life based on your personality style.
www.pbs.org

Start a walking program at the right level for you with this quiz:
www.pbs.org

This women’s health quiz assesses heart attack risk:
www.pbs.org

How walkable is your neighborhood? Take this quiz to find out:
www.pbs.org

Eating Trends Explored in Report
Six in 10 Americans say they eat more than they should, according to a report by the Pew Research Center. In a telephone survey of 2,250 adults, a majority say they eat more junk food than they should. The survey also found that the enjoyment of eating is down among the overweight. Eight in 10 respondents say Americans are more overweight now than they were five years ago, and two-thirds of the public calls this a “major problem.”
pewresearch.org

Research Shows Exercise Can Reverse Ill Effects of Inactivity
Researchers at Duke University studied mildly overweight individuals who volunteered to be physically inactive for six months then elected to follow the study’s exercise program for an additional six months. During the period of inactivity, the 33 participants experienced deterioration in 12 of the 17 variables studied, including waist size and visceral fat. After the six months of exercise, however, they improved in 13 of the 17 variables studied, returning these variables to “normal” (the levels measured before the study began), or even led to improvements beyond those initial levels. The study indicates that health parameters can be reversed with physical activity. (Reuters Health)

Few Women Receive Exercise Counseling From Clinicians
During the 2000 National Health Interview Survey, 6,385 women aged 50+ were asked if a clinician had recommended that they begin or continue any type of physical activity during the previous year. Overall, only 28 percent reported that they received a recommendation. Women aged 85 and older were significantly less likely to report clinician counseling about exercise. The study is published in the April 2006 issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, Vol. 54(4), pp. 619.

________________________________________________

The Blueprint Partners Project is an initiative of the Active Aging Partnership. For more information, contact the National Blueprint Office at the University of Illinois Department of Kinesiology and Community Health.
Website: www.agingblueprint.org