ACE Hosts Congressional Roundtable On Role Of Physical Activity In Policy
Posted: October 27, 2015 in Suppliers
American Council On Exercise
SAN DIEGO, CA – The American Council on Exercise (ACE) recently hosted a roundtable discussion on the role of physical activity in policy. San Diego Congressional Representatives Scott Peters and Susan Davis joined key individuals from the fitness industry as well as academia, non-profits, private business, local community coalitions and medical groups for a thoughtful discussion on the types of policy changes that could help address the physical inactivity epidemic in this country.
The key takeaways from the roundtable discussion were:
- There is a need to incentivize physical activity. One way of doing this would be an initiative involving the tax code.
- The focus must shift from return on investment to return on engagement in order to achieve the outcomes that will allow policy initiatives with demonstrated results to be scaled up and implemented in a wide spread manner.
- The majority of today’s youth fall far short of meeting the daily recommended amounts of physical activity which has contributed largely to the childhood obesity crisis. Systematic policy changes that include physical activity and ensuring access to safe places to engage in activity are needed if there is to be success in reversing this alarming epidemic.
- The country’s national security is increasingly at risk due to the very limited number of individuals who are fit to serve.
“In order to address the national inactivity epidemic, there must be cultural systematic changes across communities nationwide and we need the help of policy makers at all levels—federal, state and local— as well as decision makers in healthcare, fitness and health professionals, community leaders, and thought leaders at organizations that are influencing the course of physical activity programming to make it happen,” said Graham Melstrand, ACE Executive Vice President of Corporate Affairs.
“By bridging the gap between fitness and healthcare, expanding access to exercise, and working with policymakers to lower healthcare costs, we can create a culture where physical activity and healthy behavior is the cornerstone. We invite you to join forces and advocate that more policies focus on high-quality physical activity and making it available to exponentially more people,” added Melstrand.
Join the conversation and connect with ACE on Twitter @ACEfitness and @ACEadvocacy using #ACEpolicytalk or email comments to Advocacy@ACEfitness.org.
