Rural communities enjoy proximity to nature in environment and lifestyle, generally believed to be comparatively free of stress and more health-friendly. However, keeping up with modern facilities related to urban life has long started affecting rural communities in somewhat subtle ways. One of these concerns is the health and fitness of rural population. For example, though living in more environmental-friendly surroundings, rural community members have been found with a grater tendency to develop obesity. This correlation was first revealed in scientific terms in the American Journal of Health Promotion, July/August 2006. A recent study confirms the findings of this research and attests the role of certain environmental factors in the greater incidence of obesity in rural communities.

In the pioneering study, led by Dr. Tegan Boehmer, on obesity in rural populations, the researchers found a strong connection between physical environment, physical activity (or the lack of it), and food choices of people. The primary culprit responsible for making people put on weight turns out to be physical inactivity due to lack of, or inaccessibility to, neighborhood constructions like schools, parks, stores, gyms, churches, or recreational spots that would otherwise attract the people to walking and doing some sort of physical exertion. Also responsible for weight gain are food choices of the rural folk who have been found to possess a taste for fatty foods. Television addicts are at a higher risk for obesity and so are middle-aged people.

Critically investigating the causal connection between environmental features and obesity in rural communities, Dr. Boehmer and her team also concluded that people who felt insecure on account of traffic and crimes tended to be more prone to obesity than otherwise. A weaker, but statistically significant, correlation was also drawn between obesity and a lack of aesthetic appreciation of the neighborhood. It appears that people suffering from either the mental stress of insecurity or deprivation of aesthetic pleasure automatically respond by losing health to obesity – and hence an increased risk of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases.

The implications of the studies by Dr. Boehmer and her team demand special consideration when speaking of health and environment in rural communities. Altering the natural landscape of rural environs, in any construction project, needs to be carefully planned, not only in terms of physical parameters but also considering such factors as the impact of neighborhood structures on people’s feelings of security, aesthetics, and motivation for an agile lifestyle.

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