17 June 2011

Canberrans getting more active

| johnboy
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Andrew Barr is celebrating Sports Commission data which apparently shows Canberrans are more active than they have been since the dawn of RiotACT (2000).

The survey started in 2001 and measures the frequency, nature and type of activities
of persons aged 15 years and over for exercise, recreation and sport during the 12
months prior to interview.

ERASS 2010 shows:
— 87.8 per cent of Canberrans are participating in some form of exercise, recreation or sport – up from 83.4 per cent in 2001 and up 5.5 per cent on the national average
— men and women in the ACT have high levels of activity, with 123,900 females (87.4 per cent) and 122,200 males (88.3 per cent) taking part. This is an increase of 6.8 per cent and 2.4 per cent respectively since 2001
— 86,000 Canberrans participated at least five times a week representing 30.7 per cent of Canberrans aged 15 years or more
— 22.8 per cent of Canberrans participated three times a week
— 11.8 per cent of Canberrans participated once a week. Nationally, the overwhelming majority– 69.4 per cent – participated in exercise, recreation or sport only once a week.

Apparently we can thank Government policy for our healthier lifestyles.

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Better education = higher awareness of the benefits of excercise?

I do remember a few years ago they had this great program for ACT Govt employees to get people to walk more. It involved giving everyone a free pedometer and asking them to record their number of steps each day. There were prizes for the person and team with the highest total but also for the ones that improved most over the course of the few weeks it ran.

I didn’t participate because I was already cycling 20kms every day and couldn’t be asked spending my lunchtime walking on top of that. But it was quite amazing to see how much it motivated most of my colleagues. And most of them are still going for a walk at lunchtime every day, years later.

So bring in more programs like that, I say!

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