It is often said that "it takes a village to raise a child". However, sometimes it isn’t a child that the village needs to be concerned with: it’s a sense of community. Living in a neighborhood where you are surrounded by neighbors who have your best interests at heart is a huge blessing, but gaining this type of environment takes a lot of work.
If you want to be part of this type of caring community, then you need to do your part and contribute to building the health and wellness of that community.
Taking personal responsibility for yourself and your family is the first step to ensuring a health community. From there, contributing to healthy initiatives and being a promoter of a healthy lifestyle can help make your community a more healthy place to live.
Encouraging Physical Activity In your Community
One of the best ways to encourage a healthier community is to encourage physical activity within your community. This is something that you can help with by participating in city-wide initiatives, as well as by starting some of your own fitness initiatives.
Reach out to your community through your neighborhood Facebook or Nextdoor group to create a walking group. If you have a sport that you love, like basketball, soccer or pickleball, consider creating a weekly pick-up game that will give you the chance to meet others in your community with similar interests.
Incorporating physical activity into your daily life is shown to be a huge asset towards living a healthy lifestyle. Exercise is proven to be more effective than dieting alone in reducing your risk of heart disease, diabetes, asthma complications, back pain and even can help to delay or prevent dementia.
The Benefits of an Active Lifestyle
An active lifestyle can benefit people of all ages and help to improve health outcomes. For older adults, engaging in social, physically demanding activities can promote well-being and reduce health care costs.
For adults over the age of 18, engaging in community initiatives can prevent your activity level from dropping off, which is something that happens to many adults with age. Even kids under the age of 5 can benefit from community wide initiatives that will help kids learn active play, make friends, and incorporate physical activity as part of their regular lifestyle.
You can help to improve access to physical activity in your community by working with your local government. Every city has a local parks and recreation departments that are often in need of volunteer support to keep community parks clean and safe.
Working with law enforcement officers and public transportation options can also benefit your community by helping to create a sense of neighborly affection and help the community to develop a sense of safeness.
Finally, one of the most essential parts of the community that members of any neighborhood can work with to promote a healthier lifestyle are the schools. Schools are the primary source of providing an education about living a healthy lifestyle. They can also provide easy access to physical fitness opportunities through youth sport leagues and more.