Story last
updated at 8:27 a.m. Monday, November 15, 2004
Charleston
3rd fittest city in USA
Self
magazine ranks cities fit for women
BY
DAVID QUICK
Of
The Post and Courier Staff
Charleston
women -- do you feel as if you're living in the third fittest city in America?
Self
magazine thinks so.
The
women's self-improvement magazine ranks the Charleston area -- known more for
its politeness than willingness to sweat -- as the third fittest place "for
women to live in" of nearly 200 metropolitan areas in the United States. Only
Seattle
and Salinas, Calif., were more fit.
The
ranking was part of the magazine's fifth annual survey, "America's Healthiest
(and Unhealthiest) Places for Women" in its current issue.
Unfortunately, Charleston
didn't rank as high in the overall healthiest category. We ranked 42nd overall
out of 200. Orange County, Calif., was the healthiest place, while Flint,
Mich., was the least healthy place.
Sara
Austin, news director of Self, says the survey was based on 35 criteria -- such
as obesity rates, number of health clubs and parks per capita, air quality,
death and disease rates, violent crime and access to health care -- from sources
such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Environmental
Protection Agency.
The data
was weighted via a panel of experts and a survey of magazine readers.
Austin
says
Charleston scored big on the fitness ranking primarily for three reasons,
including the amount of time women say they spend exercising. Eighty-six percent
reported getting some kind of regular exercise. Also, Charleston
has 4,500 acres of nearby parks and beaches available for walking, running and
other forms of exercise. Third, the region recently landed an "Active Living By
Design" grant by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which is supposed to foster
active lifestyles.
Why rank
metropolitan areas like this?
"While
it's fun for readers, it's more about surveying what's going on in women's
health and to give people ideas and motivation to improve their communities.
When you understand what you can do to make improvements, you can get to work on
making those improvements," says Austin.It apparently has helped spark interest
in
Memphis,
Tenn., Austin claims. The city known for ribs and blues music was ranked 200th
out of 200 one year. Shortly thereafter, "Memphis
on the Move" was created. This year, Memphis
has climbed to 163rd place.
Similar
initiatives took place in Modesto,
Calif., and Ocala, Fla., after Self gave those communities less than stellar
rankings. (Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson, by the way, was ranked 193rd.)
Sometimes, a city's rise in the rankings is based as much on a change in
priorities than taking steps to improvement.
Last
year, Charleston was ranked 68th overall. Increased weighting, no pun intended,
on obesity rates helped boost the region's ranking. Austin
says that while Charleston's rate of 26.2 was barely below the national average,
many cities have even worse problems.
HEALTH SURVEY
SELF'S
TOP FIVE HEALTHIEST AREAS
1. Orange
County, Calif.
2.
Burlington, Vt.
3.
Stamford-Norwalk, Conn.
4.
Provo-Orem, Utah
5.
Nassau-Suffolk counties, N.Y.
SELF'S
LEAST HEALTHY CITIES
1. Flint,
Mich.
2. Gary,
Ind.
3.
Lafayette, La.
4. Baton
Rouge, La.
5. Ocala,
Fla.
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