Study: Play-in-the-Street Event Spurs Healthier Lifestyles in Latino City

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In San Antonio, half of adults do not meet national physical activity recommendations.

But there’s good news.

Attending Síclovía—an event that shuts down a major road for several hours to provide a safe, open space for families to “play in the street”—opens the door to a healthier future for families, according to a new study.

More than half of Síclovía attendees say they improved their physical activity behaviors after attending the event, says preliminary study data presented at a press conference on Sept. 24, 2013 by representatives of the YMCA of Greater San Antonio and the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at UT Health San Antonio.

The study results show:

• 53% of respondents reported they changed their physical activity level after attending a Síclovía event.
• 48% of respondents reported they tried a new activity at the event.
• 43% of respondents reported they would not have been physically active the day of Síclovía had it not been for the event.
• 87% of people came to the event with their family and/or friends.

“Since the inception of Síclovía, participants have shared with us how the event encouraged them to adopt a healthier lifestyle,” said Sandy Morander of the YMCA of Greater San Antonio. “We are thrilled that this study confirms we are having an impact on a significant number of attendees.”

Síclovía is a free event hosted twice a year by the YMCA of Greater San Antonio.

Participants walk, run bike and skate through the closed street, stopping at “reclovias” along the way that provide a variety of activities, including exercise demonstrations, a skate park, a pet area and a healthy food area.

The most recent Síclovía took place Oct. 22, 2017, and drew more than 60,000, according to the Rivard Report.

The study was conducted during San Antonio’s Síclovía event on April 7, 2013, and included surveys from 373 participants.

“We were excited to find that Síclovía is a family-oriented event that motivated non-active people to get off the couch and try new activities that they otherwise might have missed, and also sparked people to adopt healthier behaviors after the event, too,” said Dr. Deborah Parra-Medina, who at the time of the study was a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the IHPR at UT Health SA.

“Given that physical activity is scientifically proven to improve health and reduce the risk of disease, our results clearly demonstrate this event plays a role in improving San Antonio’s health.”

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