Promoting Health Through Greenways

New Jersey Nurse, Jan/Feb 2004 by Long, Karen

For the past year and a half I have been working with a group of highly energetic people in my town of Bloomfield to save the last 5 percent of open space. Ultimately the focus of the group has centered on the creation of a greenway that would be accessible to each resident for recreation and physical activity.

Greenways are corridors of protected open space managed for the purpose of conservation, recreation, and physical activity. Greenways are usually established along waterways or natural land formations and can be publicly or privately owned or a combination of the two.

Recently we decided to have a free public forum at Bloomfield College's Van Fossan Theater titled Greenways: Reclaiming Our Rivers & Trails. A number of speakers presented on the importance of establishing and conserving greenways, rivers, and trails for the benefit of all.

These speakers included Dr. Paul Mankiewicz, internationally-known ecological restoration specialist; Greg Remaud, president of the Liberty State Park Conservancy and project manager of the New York/New Jersey Baykeeper; Kevin Moore, project manager for Weequahic Park in Newark, a 311 acre Olmsted park; Robert Takash, president of the Edison Greenways Group; and myself.

My charge was to speak about the health benefits of greenways and trails in general. As an outdoor enthusiast and one who has always believed in the overall benefit of physical activity I nevertheless learned quite a bit from my research.

One of the most exciting things I learned about trails and greenways is that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has recognized the importance of promoting physical activity through trails and is actively working with communities to encourage trail development and maintenance. The CDC web site states "there is now scientific evidence that providing access to places for physical activity increases the level of physical activity in a community."

There are many reasons why trails and greenways would increase physical activity. For many people certain forms of physical activity are not available to them so they remain on the sidelines. For instance, many organized sports teams cater to the highly athletic, and health club memberships can be financially prohibitive to many residents. On the other hand, a well maintained greenway or trail running through a city or town can be inviting to many more people and can provide for many different types of recreation. Trail activities will depend on where trails are located. Examples of such activities are dog walking, walking for physical or mental health, jogging, bicycling, roller blade/inline skating, fishing, playing with children, bird watching etc....

While it is true that many of these activities can be done on the city or town sidewalks and streets, trails and greenways provide for a safe, healthy, and aesthetically pleasing atmosphere to engage in physical activity. Frederick Law Olmsted, America's premier landscape architect and designer of Central Park and our very own Weequahic Park in Newark designed his parks with this thought in mind "We want a ground to which people may easily go after their day's work is done, and where they may stroll for an hour, seeing, hearing, and feeling nothing of the bustle and jar of the streets-where they shall, in effect, find the city put far away from them." A more modern version of this idea is that of eco-psychology, a term coined in 1992 by Theodore Roszak, PhD. One aspect of Eco-psychology focuses on the healing effect of the natural world with the realization that many of us are disconnected from nature and that returning to it could be beneficial for both our physical and mental health.

The incidence of chronic disease such as diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, obesity, cancer, and depression are increasing at alarming rates in this country. At the same time the percentage of adults and children who engage in some type of regular physical activity is decreasing. Research into the positive effects of physical activity on these conditions is vast, with some studies being more significant than others. But one thing remains clear, physical activity along with good nutrition (a whole other topic) is crucial to improve the health and well being of all American residents. Knowing this it becomes imperative that society and its institutions look for creative ways to prevent and manage these conditions.

Promoting and developing trails and greenways is one way to improve public health. There are numerous resources available on the web to guide people in the creation of these community treasures. Does your community need one?

By Karen Long, RN,APN,C Urology Research Coordinator