Feeling cocky because you ran the Peachtree yesterday? Hosting America’s largest 10k might have something to do with the fact that we’re in the top half of America’s best places for exercise.
Early this summer, Jeffrey Hallam, PhD, the founding director of the University of Mississippi Center for Health Behavior Research, told Men’s Health that the feelings toward fitness where you live might be contagious. Peer pressure could strongly influence whether people exercise or not. (When 60,000 of your closest friends and neighbors are running 6.2 miles on July 4 . . . )
“In Portland, Oregon, many people bicycle or walk everywhere, and there is a social expectation that others should bike or walk,” he said. “But in Mississippi, that expectation to be physically active isn’t as strong.”
Men’s Health used his research, along with information about local exercise habits and CDC information to rank 100 American cities from most to least active.
Here are some highlights:
1 Portland, OR
2 Boise, ID
3 Salt Lake City, UT
4 Minneapolis, MN
5 St. Paul, MN
40 Atlanta
96 Birmingham, AL
97 Columbia, SC
98 Nashville, TN
99 Charleston, WV
100 Jackson, MS
