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Dr. Mercola
August 17 2007
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Why New Yorkers Live Longer

While researchers once pointed to an “urban health penalty” due to crime, pollution, and other perils of city life, they’re now saying that living in an urban area is an advantage to your health, and New Yorkers are topping the list of healthy Americans.

The primary reason why New York City is now being called a “capitol of longevity” -- while the average American has added just 2.5 years to his life since 1990, New Yorkers have added 6.2 -- has everything to do with the layout of the city itself.

Because driving in the Big Apple is such a headache, and public transportation is everywhere, many New Yorkers walk daily.

Walking, and walking fast, appears to be tipping the scales toward New Yorkers’ health.

New York City was named “best walking city” in 2006 by the American Podiatric Medical Association and Prevention magazine. Plus, New York City has the fastest pedestrians in the country, according to a recent study, which turns the whole city into a “massive exercise machine dedicated to improving our health while we run errands,” according to the author of this New York Magazine piece.

Researchers are also pointing to other turning trends pushing New Yorkers toward health, such as:

  • Decreases in infant mortality, homicide, and HIV mortality
  • Easier access to community, friends, and “ethnic peers”
  • Healthier food options
  • A rich cultural environment, for mental stimulation
  • Close proximity to parks for recreation

The city has also recently implemented other healthy trends, including a ban on smoking and trans fats.

However, according to a study by Matthew Turner, an economist at the University of Toronto, the city itself is not responsible for making people healthier.

His study found that people who moved from cities to suburbs did not get fatter, nor vice versa. Instead, Turner says the healthy trend in New York City is simply the result of a self-selecting population. Highly active people may naturally gravitate toward the New York lifestyle, while those looking for a slower pace (where they can drive everywhere) may gravitate toward the suburbs.

NYMag.com August 20, 2007



Dr. Mercola Dr. Mercola's Comments:
I love to visit New York, it is one of my favorite cities. Central Park is really amazing and the variety of ethnic restaurants everywhere is just fabulous.  However, I have some questions about the central premise of this article. There’s no question that plenty of daily activity, such as the fast-walking that New Yorkers are famous for, is excellent for your physical health. It is a stretch, though, to claim that living in New York City is nearly guaranteed to make you fit and healthy.

You can be healthy, or unhealthy, no matter where you live.

While there are certainly advantages to living in an urban area, especially in regard to food variety and exposure to mentally stimulating cultural events, there are disadvantages too. For instance:
  • New York was named the 25th fattest city in the United States in 2006 (granted it did move down on the list from number eight in 2005)
  • The number of New Yorkers with diabetes grew by 140 percent in the last decade, compared to a growth rate of 80 percent for the entire United States
  • People in New York city are exposed to vast amounts of air pollution from traffic and other sources
The city did make positive changes too, some of which were stated in the New York Magazine article. Their trans-fat ban alone could prevent an estimated 500 deaths a year.

How to be Healthy No Matter What City You Live In

When you get down to it, debating whether New Yorkers are healthier than the rest of the country is really a moot point. It’s simply not to your advantage to let your location dictate your health.

Why?

Because geographic regions will always vary when it comes to healthy and unhealthy aspects such as air pollution, access to parks, food and drinking water quality, and the list goes on.

You can Take Control of Your Health and feel great, no matter where you live simply by following the basic health principles that are the foundation of this Web site. And, if you want to experience some of the benefits that New Yorkers are receiving, make it a point to add some regular, brisk walking to your day.

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Community Comments ( 38 )
 		Comment on this Article
  
  
nycmom
 [ Joined on 05/07 ] [ Posted on August 19, 2007 ]
11 Points        
   
 
Novice User
Yes, pollution is a problem in New York. However, nearly all my food comes from the local farms, I walk at least a mile a day just taking care of chores, I am at the gym or yoga every day (both are in my building), I have a huge pool of holistic practitioners to choose from, endless number of restaurants creating healthy meals, and that's just the tip of it. Living in New York is not too bad.
 [ Reply ]
  
  
bagarino
 [ Joined on 01/07 ] [ Posted on September 6, 2007 ]
7 Points        
   
 
Novice User

You can see this effect in many capitals (especially economic ones where they differ from the administrative ones). I think the main reason is that the population profile is different, richer, both culturally and financially, better educated and more responsive to positive health messages on issues such as diet, smoking, exercise and preventative medicine. The education authorities (school boards) also often have more funding from local taxes. London, Milan, the Paris basin... in many cases people are living longer than their country cousins who, although living in cleaner environments with (perhaps) easier access to fresh food, lacked the get-up-and-go to get up and leave. I can't speak for the US, but many rural areas in Europe are hotbeds of boredom and inactivity, often associated with high levels of alcohol abuse.

 [ Reply ]
  
  
dchadnea
 [ Joined on 05/07 ] [ Posted on September 6, 2007 ]
4 Points        
   
 
Novice User

I read this article with great interest since, only last week, it occurred to me that the centigenarians celebrated in the news ALL lived in the North!! Not in New York. I thought, perhaps, this article would explain why Northerners categorically lived longer than us Southerners.  However, this article didn't explain why living in a much colder climate, and having four seasons prolongs life span. Does anyone know if any serious research has been done along these lines??

A Texan

 [ Reply ]
  
  
Mercola Fan
 [ Joined on 11/06 ] [ Posted on August 21, 2007 ]
3 Points        
   
 
Apprentice User
The real question is WHY are the New Yorkers walking so fast??

When we visited there we witnessed a shooting and an assalt!! Tho it did make me walk quite a bit faster, which may have raised my heart rate to a heathy level.. hahaha .. I think the benefits of speed walking the streets of New York may purhaps be outweighed by the risk to personal safety.
 [ Reply ]
Mercola
  
joeday
 [ Joined on 06/06 ]  [ Posted on September 6, 2007]
-1 Points        
   
Novice User
  Mercola

I've worked all over the world and I have seen shootings or read about them in just about everywhere.  Crimes in the suburbs or rural areas are caused by family differences not by strangers in more cases than not.

I haven't read any percentages of deranged minds in any US place.

If New York City frightens you because of its fast pace then think about vacationing elsewhere.  What else can one say?
  
  
Russ Bianchi
 [ Joined on 09/06 ] [ Posted on August 18, 2007 ]
3 Points        
   
 
Savvy User
Hello?  It's HYPE , to sell more magazines among... NEW YORKERS!!!

What is empirically TRUE (ask any 5 borough pathologist or morgue clerk) the average time a New Yorker's cadaver lasts, prior to normal decomposition, prior to refrigeration, or embalming, is longer by a few days, versus an non urbanite, because of the life long (not "longer") consumption of preservatives, stabilizers, anti-microbials, anti-bacteriologicals, etc., in food, beverage, cosmetics, drugs and flavorings.
 [ Reply ]
Mercola
  
Mr.AK
 [ Joined on 06/06 ]  [ Posted on September 6, 2007]
4 Points        
   
Apprentice User
  Mercola

Let's not make too much of life expectancy numbers. Living longer isn't much of a benefit if you're in pain and on medications for the last 20 years of it. Me? I'd rather have a disease and pain-free life for however long I live, even if I die younger.
Mercola
  
Aaltrude
 [ Joined on 04/07 ]  [ Posted on September 17, 2007]
       
   
Savvy User
  Mercola

For some reason the site is letting me reply to an article but it won't let me post a comment hence I am adding my comment by replying to this comment.

Dr Mercola said in reply to this article "You can Take Control of Your Health and feel great, no matter where you live". I disagree. I was slowly developing MCS when I lived and worked in a polluted atmosphere. The only solution to stop the continued development of this disorder before it reached a disabling point was to move to a non poluted environment.
  
  
Magnolia
 [ Joined on 06/06 ] [ Posted on August 18, 2007 ]
3 Points        
   
 
Savvy User
Good article -- albeit a bit long. I too am a fast walker. I walk up and down escalators if there are no stairs and do overrun most of the people on the sidewalk unless they are running. Here in Atlanta, I live close enough to parks, the grocery store, the home improvement store, and the like, to walk if I choose, which I do when the weather is not over 100 degrees or below 25. Walking feels good. I park the car at the far end of the lot so I can walk farther to whatever place I have had to drive to. I've always liked running up stairs, two at a time. Nice to know this is a healthy behavior, hey?
 [ Reply ]
  
  
shiva
 [ Joined on 10/06 ] [ Posted on August 17, 2007 ]
3 Points        
   
 
Savvy User
Of course you also suck in more pollution as you breath in The Big Apple,....  I have cringed as I have driven up or down the West Side Highway or the FDR Drive and seen the many individual New Yorkers jogging and running and walking along side the very busy smog pumping highways.  .............. Hell maybe the body adapts somehow to that sort of air? ...... I doubt it.
............. Better Yet,.... walk as fast as a New Yorker and don't live in New York. ... Then you'll really live longer.
 [ Reply ]
Mercola
  
labrat
 [ Joined on 09/06 ]  [ Posted on August 17, 2007]
4 Points        
   
Savvy User
  Mercola
I'm a former New Yorker and I have always walked fast. "It hurts my motor to walk too slow!"

People walking slow - drives me nuts. (That might negate the advantage - heh?) I'm always ahead of a crowd I'm walking with.
Mercola
  
Miss Marian
 [ Joined on 06/07 ]  [ Posted on August 17, 2007]
5 Points        
   
Novice User
  Mercola
Although I'm from Mercola-country and have never stepped foot in New York, I'm a super fast walker. This always has me tripping up over slow people everywhere I go. I try to discipline myself and keep pace with the slow people, but it kills me inside. I've resigned myself to the fact that I'm just a fast walker. Thank goodness my boyfriend is too or we'd have ISSUES!

I agree that doing cardio exercises out in polluted streets of any major city would automatically cancel out most of the benefits.
Mercola
  
tyciol
 [ Joined on 10/06 ]  [ Posted on September 8, 2007]
       
   
This user is BELOW novice level and all their comments need to be reviewed with great caution.
  Mercola

I hate to burst your bubble but there've been studies showing that the pollution inside cars on a street has greatly exceeded that of the pollution on adjacent sidewalks. If you think about it, there's not as much circulation. At least with the sidewalks/roads the pollution can go up or blow away or whatever, not get inhaled into your car.

Unless it was a car with some kind of carbon filter, are there those yet?
  
  
Islander
 [ Joined on 03/07 ] [ Posted on September 6, 2007 ]
2 Points        
   
 
Moderator User
I think this is true of any city that has an efficient public transportation system (New York, Chicago and Boston come to mind). There is a disincentive to drive into the city - but to use the subway, people have to walk several blocks to and from, and go up and down stairs. Do that to and from work every day, and you have practically met your aerobic goal for the day! My NYC daughter has a friend who bought a car. In her first year of car ownership, she gained 15 pounds!
 [ Reply ]
Mercola
  
hsu973
 [ Joined on 08/06 ]  [ Posted on September 11, 2007]
       
   
Novice User
  Mercola

That is why I work in the "City."  My commute is much more vigorous as I go from different levels of the Bus Terminal to reach the subway levels and on the sidewalks.  There are slow people as well, but the quicker one go around them.  Also, note on escalors, the left lane is the "fast" one in which people walk instead of stand.  When I drove, I gained at least 10 lbs in NJ, so I am happy to be back as difficult as it is sometimes.
  
  
Mercola Fan
 [ Joined on 11/06 ] [ Posted on August 21, 2007 ]
2 Points        
   
 
Apprentice User
The reason the New Yorkers are walking so fast is because they live there and are on their way to work. Those of us who may just be visiting and do not live there are on vacation..relaxing.. looking for the best shops.
 I walked slower when I was there because I did not have a reason (a stress) that forced me to speed walk. It makes sense to me that stress is stress. And, stress is not healthy. Also..Walking, while it is healthy, is best done safely. I would not agree that the streets of New York are the best place to walk safely. In my limited exposure to walking the popular areas of the city, we witnessed a shooting and an assalt. Tho it did make me walk quite a bit faster, which may have raised my heart rate to a heathy level..hahaha.. I think the benefits of speed walking the streets of New York may purhaps be outweighed by the risk to personal safety.
 [ Reply ]
Mercola
  
nomore
 [ Joined on 09/07 ]  [ Posted on September 7, 2007]
       
   
Novice User
  Mercola

Visitors do not understand that that places like NYC and Boston are called "living, working" cities. Unlike Orlando or similar places, they really aren't designed for tourists to relax and look for shops.

Several tourists giggling in a busy entrance, paying no attention and leaving no space for other people, typically get shoved out of the way. It's about respecting the locals who keep the city running.
  
  
CSR
 [ Joined on 08/07 ] [ Posted on August 17, 2007 ]
2 Points        
   
 
Apprentice User
I'm not sure it's fair to say that New Yorkers live longer. I've been living in NYC and now Brooklyn for several years now, and I have never felt more fatigued or down-spirited in my life. I have also developed difficulty breathing at times. Nearly a year ago, I spent two weeks in the country in Germany and the contrast was highly salient. I went running everyday (something I hadn't done in years), I had a great appetite, my spirits were up, and I slept like a baby. Yes, we walk a lot here in NY, but as others stated above, the environment is so polluted: chemicals, noise, smog, etc. It's a nice place to live for just a few years--fortunately I'm moving to Austin in a couple of months!