The impact of environmental factors in explaining exercise and eating behavior

Abstract

The purpose of this overview was to determine which local environmental factors had the best predictive capabilities of exercise and eating behavior, and also which ones could be used for possible intervention programs and research. There are too many undefined factors which have made it hard for researchers to know which one to implement; in addition it is hard to interpret the studies that have been conducted. There are promising factors that appear, such as accessibility to supermarkets, convenience of facilities, aesthetics and beach access. Nonetheless, it is not possible to draw any causal relationship between the local environmental factors and exercise- or eating behavior because there has not been carried out any good longitudinal studies with good definitions of the local environmental factors that control for confounding variables. For future research, it is important to have good definitions of the local environmental factors in order to determine the actual effects they have on exercise- and eating behavior.