Severe weather conditions in the winter and fall are major obstacles preventing Michigan residents from exercising during those seasons, a MSU professor says.
Jim Pivarnik, professor of kinesiology and physical medicine and rehabilitation, analyzed a statewide study called the Michigan Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, or BRFSS, a 1996 survey of more than 5,000 Michigan residents.The survey focused on what Michiganians were doing to maintain their physical fitness.
Pivarnik's findings were published in the June issue of the journal Medicine & Sciences in Sports & Exercises.
"Most people are fair weather exercisers," Pivarnik said. "I suspect that states which don't have as drastic of seasons as Michigan their numbers aren't as high."
The study concluded Michigan residents exercised significantly more in the spring and summer seasons than the fall and winter seasons. It also found more than 25.9 percent of the respondents indicated they practiced no physical activity at all.
Levels of inactivity rose to 28.7 percent in the fall and 32.5 percent in the winter.
Guidelines recommended by Healthy People 2010 of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommends adults get at least 30 minutes of daily activity and children get 60 minutes of daily activity.
Pivarnik says during warm seasons people have at least two forms of activities they perform. He said golf, bicycling and gardening are the most popular activities. Michiganians reach the desired level of activity recommended by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services during the summer and fall, Pivarnik said.
He added for people who exercise all year their activity level goes down 15 to 20 percent in the winter months. Pivarnik found Michigan residents do not reach the desired health guidelines for the winter months.
He said people who maintain activity during the cold season only perform one type of exercise, and the same people would perform two types of exercise in the summer. Walking, skiing, aerobics and weightlifting are the most common forms of activity in the winter, Pivarnik said.
Ann Rafferty, a public health consultant for the Michigan Department of Community Health, said surveys such as Michigan's physical fitness report are important because the findings help track other health factors, such as factors that contribute to obesity.
"Michigan tends to be near the top of those states (in obesity) fairly consistently," Rafferty said. "We really don't know why that is."
Rafferty said in 2001 Michigan ranked third out of 50 states and Washington D.C. in obesity rates. In the same year 24.7 percent of adults in Michigan were labeled as obese and the middle range for the country was 21.1 percent.
Despite the results of the survey, a physical fitness worker said activity levels are higher in the winter than the summer.
People generally use holidays to celebrate and slack off a little bit," said Kellee Ostrander, co-owner of Powerhouse Gym, 435 E. Grand River Ave. "After New Year's, people will start over fresh and set new goals."
Ostrander said on an average busy day in the summer about 300 people venture to the gym. On an average busy winter day about 750 people will come in and workout.
Ostrander added research has shown resistance training and weight training burns more calories than cardiovascular training alone and because of severe weather, less people are likely to exercise outdoors.
"I don't think weather dictates it as much as overall goals or people trying to lose weight and get in shape," she said.
