Washington, D.C. is not only the capital of the United States of America but it is also the capital for healthy Americans since it is ranked as the fittest city for the third year by the American Fitness Index. D.C. gained high scores on park-related expenditures as it spend more than three times the goal amount for a cities. These parks are located near more than 96 percent of people in the community.
One reason for the increase are public health campaigns that emphasize the danger of sedentary lifestyles. Aside from that, D.C. also received high ranks for low numbers of diabetes deaths, smoking rates, and cardiovascular disease deaths. Most people in the area also have positive mental health. About 76.8 percent of Americans are engaged in exercising for the past 30 days which is a 11.8 percent increase than last year which is 68.7 percent.
"That's a huge increase. Usually we will see a one or two percent increase," said Walter R. Thompson, chair of the AFI advisory board, AOL reported.
The ninth annual list by the American College of Sports Medicine and the Anthem Foundation was based on the personal health and environmental factors of cities.
"They have a fairly high percentage of the population that is obese, 33 percent," said Thompson. "Park expenditures (what the city spends on its parks) is $24 per resident and only 32 percent of the population live within a 10-minute walk of the park."
The report noticed a positive overall trend with 4.7 percent decrease in people who smoke, 5.2 percent increase per resident spending on parks and 7.4 percent drop in diabetes death rate, Today reported.
To complete the top 10 fittest city are Minneapolis, Denver, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, Salt Lake City, Hartford, CT, and San Diego. Meanwhile, on the bottom 10 are Las Vegas, Detroit, Orlando, Birmingham, San Antonio, Nashville, Memphis, Louisville, Oklahoma City and Indianapolis.
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