Los Angeles Residents Report Low Exercise Rates, Study Finds
About 41% of Los Angeles residents get no more than 10 minutes of continuous exercise each week, according to a study by University of California-Los Angeles researchers released Sunday, the Los Angeles Daily News reports. CDC recommends physical activity of 30 minutes per day for five days a week. The study is based on a random telephone survey of 8,353 Los Angeles County adult residents conducted in 1999-2000. Survey respondents were interviewed in English, Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean and Vietnamese. According to the study, 46% of Latinos, 41% of Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders, 40% of African Americans and 37% of non-white Hispanics are "completely sedentary," the Daily News reports. The study also indicates higher rates of inactivity among women, people who are depressed and people who were not born in the United States.
Dr. Antronette Yancey, study lead author and associate professor in the department of health services at UCLA, said that low exercise rates can be partly attributed to the residential environment. She said, "We have not suddenly become lazy and stupid. Our environment has changed dramatically." Yancey said that women could have lower exercise rates because of cultural norms that encourage them to prioritize others' needs before their own and because of time constraints related to jobs and family care duties, according to the Daily News. Yancey recommended that physicians "prescribe" exercise to patients to help address their sedentary lifestyles. The study will appear in the August issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine (Sodders, Los Angeles Daily News, 7/11).
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