Green space exposure and active travel behavior: Longitudinal study around retirement using GPS and accelerometers

Background:

Active travel, i.e., making journeys in physically active ways, is one way to accumulate daily physical activity. Green spaces have shown to promote active travel.

Purpose:

This longitudinal study examined the associations between usable green space exposure (e.g., forests and parks) and accelerometer-measured physical activity during active travel.

Methods:

The associations were examined separately for workdays, days off and days after retirement among participants in the Finnish Retirement and Aging study (n=102, mean age 63.3 years). Physical activity intensity was measured with waist-worn accelerometer and active travel identified with GPS methodology using average trip speed to determine active travel. Linear regression analyses with generalized estimating equations (GEE) were used to examine the associations.

Results:

We observed a total of 38 min/day of active travel on workdays, 48 min/day on days off and 51 min/day after retirement. One standard deviation increase in usable green space exposure was associated with 11 min/day increase in total physical activity during active travel on days off and 12 min/day increase on days after retirement. Similarly, there was 8 min/day increase in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) during active travel on days off and 9 min/day increase on days after retirement. No associations were observed for workdays.

Conclusions:

We observed positive associations between usable green space exposure and total physical activity and MVPA during active travel on days off and days after retirement, but not on workdays. Our results indicate that in leisure time, people in their 60s seem to prefer to engage in active travel in green spaces.

Practical implications:

Accessible green spaces may facilitate active travel. Encouraging active travel may be a feasible way to promote physical activity among aging populations.

Funding:

Funding was provided by the Academy of Finland, Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture, Juho Vainio Foundation and Turku University Hospital.