Health & wellness
BY CASSANDRA JENKINS & CARSON WEAVER
Health & Wellness Edition 2025
Readers, welcome to your annual CI Health & Wellness Edition! This new annual guide shares local opportunities for residents to engage in healthy activities in everyday life, from exercise to nutrition. All stories were written and compiled by our local team of journalists who live in and around the metro. In this edition, you will find information on the mental, physical and social benefits of having cycling opportunities in a large city such as Houston. Our lead story centers around Houston’s effort to include miles of bike lanes and trails for residents. The article also uncovers how having access to safe outdoor activities such as walking and biking has a positive effect on citizens. We also offer readers a guide to local fitness studios to try in 2025, dive into how close residents are to neighborhood parks and break down compounding issues with semaglutide, a rising weight loss drug.
What's inside
Learn more about Houston’s effort to create a more bike- friendly community (Page 9)
Cassandra Jenkins Editor cjenkins@ communityimpact.com
Read about the rise of semaglutide as a popular weight loss drug (Page 11)
For relevant news and daily updates, subscribe to our free email newsletter!
When it comes to proximity to a park, 61% of Houston residents live within a 10-minute walk of a park, which is lower than the average of the U.S.’s 100 most populous cities at 74%, per the Trust for Public Land, a national nonprofit. The TPL launched the 10-Minute Walk program in 2017, which aims to improve access to parks, per its website. “Public parks ... are community essentials,” said Bianca Clarke, director of the 10-Minute Walk program. “Parks offer residents a place to play, connect and reap the benefits of the outdoors.” 61% of Houston residents live close to parks
Measuring the impact
LAKE CONROE
45
59
According to the TPL, the city of Houston spends $32 per resident on parks each year, while other Texas cities such as Austin, San Antonio and Dallas spend upwards of $120 per resident. An October 2023 report by the Kinder Institute—a research organization at Rice University—showed two-thirds of Houston residents supported the city spending upwards of $100 per resident on parks. Additionally, in 2021, local parks and recreation agencies in Texas generated $13 billion in economic activity, and supported 74,722 jobs, according to the National Recreation and Parks Association. Nationally, local public park and recreation agencies generated $201.4 billion in economic activity and supported over 1 million jobs.
105
69
249
Houston
99
8 Total number of parks: 690 Total park acres: 43,225 Percentage of residents who live within a 10-minute walk of a park: 61% LAKE HOUSTON
99
6
10
10
1093
90
146
TRINITY BAY
69
45
35
288
6
N
SOURCE: TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND/COMMUNITY IMPACT
6
COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM
Powered by FlippingBook