{"id":7496,"date":"2026-04-08T00:47:31","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T00:47:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/04\/08\/walkable-towns-help-regional-australians-exercise-75-minutes-more-each-week-port-stephens-news-of-the-area\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T00:47:31","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T00:47:31","slug":"walkable-towns-help-regional-australians-exercise-75-minutes-more-each-week-port-stephens-news-of-the-area","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/04\/08\/walkable-towns-help-regional-australians-exercise-75-minutes-more-each-week-port-stephens-news-of-the-area\/","title":{"rendered":"Walkable towns help regional Australians exercise 75 minutes more each week – Port Stephens News Of The Area"},"content":{"rendered":"

Port Stephens News Of The Area<\/a>
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AMID soaring fuel prices which are prompting Australians to explore alternative transport options, a new study highlights the health benefits of walkable neighbourhoods.<\/strong>
New research shows that regional residents living in walkable towns and centres walk 75 minutes more each week, prompting calls for Governments to invest more in well-connected, safe footpaths to boost community health.
The new paper, led by the Menzies Institute for Medical Research at the University of Tasmania, was published last week in the Australia and New Zealand Journal of Public Health.
It’s the first of its kind to show walkability has a bigger impact on the amount of time spent walking in regional communities.
Lead author Dr Sharon Campbell, post-doctoral research fellow in the Environmental Health Research team at the Menzies Institute for Health Research, said that the study highlights the need to enhance walkability in regional and rural towns across Australia.
\u201cOur study assessed walkability based on how connected and convenient it is to get around an area by foot. For instance, how easily and quickly can you walk to the local shops, schools, parks or public transport,\u201d said Dr Campbell.
\u201cWhen we merged Tasmanian government health data with geospatial walkability assessments, we revealed a clear link between walkability and residents\u2019 physical activity levels across the state, with an even stronger relationship in regional and rural areas.
\u201cOur research found residents in high walkability regional areas walked 75 minutes more a week compared to those living in low walkability regional areas.
\u201cEven those in regional areas of medium walkability walked over 60 minutes more a week compared to those in low walkability regional areas. In comparison residents in high walkability urban centres walked 38 minutes more when walkability was high.\u201d
Senior author Professor Verity Cleland, from the Menzies Institute for Medical Research, said that with regional Australian towns experiencing unique health challenges including higher rates of preventable chronic disease, improving walkability could offer a simple, but effective solution to help address health inequalities.
\u201cImagine if all Australian towns were built with walkability in mind \u2013 everyone would be able to travel easily and conveniently on foot, boosting their health while saving money on fuel and protecting the environment,\u201d said Professor Cleland.
\u201cBut traditionally government planning and funding has prioritised roads and driving, particularly in regional areas, leading to lack of well-connected footpaths and facilities.
\u201cOur research uncovered a higher number of regional areas that had low walkability compared to urban areas.
\u201cWalkability shouldn\u2019t be limited to urban centres.
\u201cNo matter where you live you should be able to walk around your local area safety and conveniently.
\u201cWe need local, state and Federal Governments to do more to set up regional towns with walkable infrastructure to help boost health, particularly in our regional communities.\u201d
Adjunct Professor Terry Slevin, CEO, Public Health Association of Australia said that promoting physical activity across the nation is a public health priority.
“Being physically active has an enormous range of health benefits including reducing the risk of diseases like cancer, diabetes, dementia and heart disease, as well as improving sleep, mobility, strength, confidence and mental health,\u201d said Adjunct Professor Slevin.
\u201cWhen it comes to health benefits, nothing beats it, and if we could put the benefits of physical activity into a pill, everyone would be taking it.\u201d
Adjunct Prof Slevin said that with less than 25 percent of Australians meeting physical activity recommendations, more needs to be done to make it easier for Australians to live healthy lifestyles.
\u201cIt is recommended adults do at least 30 minutes exercise most days of the week.
\u201cWalking is a convenient, enjoyable and healthy way to get around. It\u2019s something that families can do together, can be done in almost all stages of life and it is free.
\u201cImproving walkability right across the country is a sensible and simple way to boost our physical activity and ultimately protect health and well-being.\u201d
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Port Stephens News Of The Area Share via: AMID soaring fuel prices which are prompting Australians to explore alternative transport options, a new study highlights the health benefits of walkable neighbourhoods.New research shows that regional residents living in walkable towns and centres walk 75 minutes more each week, prompting calls for Governments to invest more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7497,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-7496","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7496\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}