The Australian Physical Activity Guidelines
The Australian Physical Activity Guidelines advise that Australians should undertake at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity or 75 minutes of high intensity activity per week – and just 10 additional minutes can make a clinical difference, reducing the impact of chronic health conditions.
Social Prescribing Roundtable November 2019
Social prescribing is ‘a means of enabling General Practitioners, nurses and other primary care professionals to refer people to a range of local, non-clinical services’. Social prescribing could provide a valuable addition to the existing range of healthcare options in Australia.
Moving forward: Strategies for general practitioners to encourage physical activity in people living with and beyond cancer — Australian Journal of General Practice
In Those affected by cancer who engage in physical activity have been shown to have improved sleep quality, muscle mass and cardiorespiratory fitness, and a reduced risk of cancer recurrence and mortality, with psychological benefits such as reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression. With 67% of cancer survivors not meeting physical activity guidelines, it is important and timely that the 151,000 Australians diagnosed with cancer annually are supported to increase their physical activity.
Reach and Impact of parkrun — Science Direct
A team of academics from Sydney University reviewed the existing research into parkrun. It highlighted that parkrun participants show improvements in, among other things, fitness, total physical activity, and mood.
Social Prescribing Survey — Australian Health Professionals
A survey of almost 3,000 Australian-based health professionals revealed the extent to which patients are being signposted to parkrun events around the country, as an alternative to more ‘traditional’ medication or to complement existing treatment. Almost 2,000 of those surveyed (69%) revealed they signposted patients to parkrun in a professional capacity, with 87% of those who didn’t refer patients to parkrun stating that they would consider doing so in the future.
Coming back for more: individual participation patterns in the physical activity initiative parkrun in Australia — Health Promotion International
This study analysed individual attendance trajectories and their drivers in a large-scale ‘real-world’ community-based weekly physical activity event (parkrun) cohort in Australia.
Exploring the benefits of participation in community-based running and walking events: a cross-sectional survey of parkrun participants — BMC Public Health
Whilst the benefits of physical activity for health and wellbeing are recognised, population levels of activity remain low. This study of 60,000 parkrunners evidenced that the least active respondents from the most socioeconomically deprived areas reported increases to their activity levels and benefits to health and wellbeing since participating in parkrun.
How can we get more people with long-term health conditions involved in parkrun? — BioMed Central
This is the first study of its kind to explore the public health potential of parkrun for people with long-term health conditions.
Exploring parkrun as a social context for collective health practices — Sociology of Health & Illness
The purpose of this paper is to examine how parkrun – an increasingly popular, regular, community event – comes to be understood as a ‘health practice’ that allows individuals to enact contemporary desires for better health in a collective social context.
Running on a high: parkrun and personal wellbeing — BMC Public Health
Physical recreation event participation can affect different domains of mental and social wellbeing if sufficiently frequent, yet previous research has focused mainly on the physical health benefits of single-location or infrequent mass-participation events. This research examines overall and domain specific subjective wellbeing of adult participants of parkrun, a weekly, community-based, highly accessible and widespread event.