New research shows that running in the park not only increases physical activity and life satisfaction, especially among inactive people, but also provides cost-effective public health benefits and is more effective than traditional interventions. It has been shown that this is true.
Research: The impact of parkrun on life satisfaction and its cost-effectiveness: a six-month study of UK parkrunners. Image credit: BJ Day Stock / Shutterstock.com
In a recent study published in PLoS Global Public Health, researchers investigated the effectiveness of park running in reducing physical inactivity and investigated the cost-effectiveness of this approach.
What is parkrun?
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), running in the park is a physical activity intervention that can improve life satisfaction. This refers to community events that provide free and inclusive access to fun physical activity experiences. WHO specifically recommends running in parks as part of the Global Plan of Action on Physical Activity to increase physical activity at population level.
Park Run, which has been around for more than 20 years, is often a weekly, timed 5-kilometre running or walking event. It can potentially involve hundreds of thousands of people around the world.
Parkrun participants report improved physical and mental health, improved lifestyles, a sense of accomplishment, and increased social connections. These effects are particularly pronounced in people who were previously inactive or in poor mental health, and have been reported to last up to a year after participating in a park run. Masu.
Unweighted demographics of the sample compared to the 2019 parkrun population: (a) Gender; (b) Age. (c) Index of home postcode multiple deprivation quartile. (d) Activity at time of registration (days per week) during the past 4 weeks. (e) Number of parkruns completed within 6 months. The sample was weighted to match the 2019 park running population, adjusting for differences in age, activity level, and other demographics.
Therefore, running in the park may serve as a group intervention to improve physical activity and social well-being. However, its cost-effectiveness is still under investigation, and this study provides a better understanding of its economic value.
Cost-effectiveness must be determined by considering both economic and subjective parameters, the latter of which may include feelings of well-being and well-being. For example, the Happiness Index measures happiness based on life evaluation, good emotions, and negative emotions. Additionally, the Happiness Index recommends the use of life satisfaction as a measure of economic well-being.
Cost-effectiveness is measured by the Well-Being Adjusted Life Year (WELLBY) as used by the World Happiness Report and the WHO. WELLBY is equivalent to a one point change in each person’s life satisfaction per year, with an estimated value of £13,000.
About research
The study included 548 park runners who had newly enrolled in the activity. These people were asked about their life satisfaction at baseline and six months later.
The added value of running in the park is calculated using three methods: running in the park as a percentage of total activity, calculating an individual’s perception of running in the park across 16 measurements, or combining both methods equally. It was estimated that
After 6 months, seasonally adjusted life satisfaction was estimated. The outcome measures were then weighted to compensate for differences in the mean age and distribution of park running frequency between the study sample and the overall 2019 park running population.
Effects of parkrun
Study participants reported an average of 3.1 to 3.4 days of physical activity each week. Although activity level did not change over the 6-month period, life satisfaction increased significantly from an average of 7.489 to 7.746.
The greatest changes in satisfaction and value added were observed among those who were least active at baseline. The weighted total number of runs in the park was higher for the least active individuals than for the most active individuals.
The change in well-being was 0.26, with a total of 51,341 well-being reported over the 6-month period. Over six months, the estimated increase in life satisfaction for the 400,167 participants was £667.4 million.
The 6-month activity and impact effects of parkrunning amounted to 3,101 and 17,407 well-being values, respectively, while the combined method estimated 10,544 well-being values. Economically, these gains are valued at £40.3m, £226.3m and £137.1m respectively.
cost effectiveness
Compared to the cost of park running in 2019, the added value of park running made this measure more cost-effective than other population-level interventions targeting physical activity.
The benefit-to-cost ratio of added value to total activities from park operations was 16.7:1, whereas the effectiveness of park operations was 98.5:1 and 59.3:1 for the combined approach. Therefore, this ratio significantly exceeded the benefit-cost analysis ratios of other interventions by up to 16.7 times.
How it works The improvement in life satisfaction among park runners was primarily due to an increase in physical activity, which was accompanied by an increase in mental well-being. However, this study found that physical health was the main mediator between activity and life satisfaction, with mental health only playing a role when combined with physical health. Overall, parkrun contributed to 21.7% of the total increase in life satisfaction.
Parkrun’s success also lies in its structure. A parkrun is a community event with fixed timing and location, offering affordability to participants and promoting social connections.
conclusion
Significant improvements in life satisfaction were observed among new parkrun participants, particularly among those with the lowest baseline physical activity levels. However, despite these improvements, life satisfaction for this subgroup remains below the UK average.
Parkrun is 2.8 to 16.7 times more effective than other population-level measures of physical activity. The initiative therefore has the potential to deliver up to £266.3 million of economic benefit to Park Run participants within six months.
Additional research is needed to investigate the long-term sustainability of these improvements in life satisfaction and to identify other factors that may contribute to these improvements.
Reference magazines:
Haake, S., Quirk, H., and Bullas, A. (2024). The impact of parkrun on life satisfaction and its cost-effectiveness: a 6-month study of parkrunners in the UK. PLOS Global Public Health. doi:10.1371/journal.pgph.0003580.
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