Moving Homes Can Change Your Weight: It is often believed that people’s weight depends on their eating habits and fitness routine. This is absolutely true, but scientists have revealed something shocking in a new study. It is said that the kind of place where people live and the number of people there has a direct impact on their body weight. To put it in simple language, if you live among people struggling with obesity, you will also become fat. If you stay around fitness freak people, your weight will also remain under control. Not only this, if there are more junk food shops in your area, your weight will increase. If there are less shops selling unhealthy foods, you will remain healthy.
The most interesting thing that came to light was that the weight of people who shift to a new area gradually starts leaning towards the average weight of that community. To put it in simple language, if someone goes to an area where the average people are overweight, then within a few years his weight also starts increasing. If he goes to live in an area where fitness is better, then a reduction in his weight can be seen. This proves that the surrounding environment such as food shops, availability of healthy foods, number of fast-food outlets, walking facilities and access to green areas, affects people’s lifestyle in a silent but effective way.
The study also found that area has more impact on eating habits, while it has less impact on physical activity. The expenditure on grocery and takeaway food in different areas is related to the local environment there. This means that people’s choices depend not only on their preferences, but also on what is readily available, affordable and convenient around them. The study used data from the HILDA survey, which is Australia’s long-term national survey and collects data from the same individuals every year. This helped researchers understand how a person’s weight was changing before and after they moved house.
