Naperville is the fittest town in Illinois and ranks 18th nationally when compared to cities across the United States, a new study from an online health and fitness resource says.
Commissioned by Total Shape, the report lists Naperville at No. 1 and Champaign and Urbana at second and third as the fittest communities in the state. Kankakee was deemed the least fit.
Researchers analyzed 2019 and 2020 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looking at health status, exercising habits and obesity rates among residents aged 18 and older.
The study ranked 572 places throughout the United States that are part of metropolitan areas.
Research found 92.2% of Naperville’s adult residents describe their state of health as excellent, very good or good, and 82.5% say they undertake some measure of physical activity in their spare time, such as walking, gardening, golf, running, calisthenics or other forms of exercise.
The activity level was measured based on what people did in their leisure time within the month before being surveyed.
To have 17.5% of Naperville residents not spend any time in physical activity or exercise outside of work is a pretty good score compared to the rest of the country, where the median score is 25.5%, Christiana Mikesch of Total Shape said in an email.
Mikesch said a place’s fitness score, especially when put in a larger context, can highlight differences between seemingly similar areas.
Naperville has one of the top 10 scores in America for self-reported health status, she said.
Although subjective, self-reporting has been found to be a statistically strong indicator that actually correlates to “subsequent health service use, functional status, and mortality,” according to the CDC.
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The best activity score in the country — with 12% inactive residents — came from Bellevue, Washington, a city often viewed as comparable to Naperville in size and demographics.
The study also looked at the percentage of the population who are classified as obese.
Naperville had 26%, compared to an average 33% for towns nationally.
In the Kankakee, the least fit place in the state, the study shows 46.4% of residents are considered obese, 22.4% rate their own health as poor or fair, and 33.8% generally don’t participate in any physical activity.
The honor of the fittest place in America goes to Newton, Massachusetts, which Mikesch said earned near-perfect scores in all three categories.
The worst place in America for fitness is Reading, Pennsylvania, where almost half the population is obese and two in five residents do not exercise or make any physical effort in their leisure time, the study found.
On average, the research shows about three in four urban dwellers in America each month tend to do some type of physical activity outside their work hours. However, one in three is still obese and 16.3% would rate their health as either fair or poor.
Mikesch said city life takes a toll on one’s health.
“It is understandably easier to reach for the junk snacks or opt for quick meals or fast food,” Mikesch said.
If losing weight is a person’s objective, the secret is not to compare oneself to others, she said.
“Instead, go to your cupboard and start reading the labels. You may be surprised how much sugar is in processed foods, especially those containing low or no fat,” Mikesch said.
Since exercise is just as important for health, she said one starting point to remember is that event the smallest amount of physical activity can actually improve quality of life.