Renée Umstattd Meyer

Transcript

Derek Smith:
Hello and welcome to Baylor Connections, a conversation series with the people shaping our future. Each week we go in depth with Baylor Leaders, professors, and more discussing important topics in higher education, research and student life. I'm Derek Smith, and today we are talking Active Living with Renée Umstattd Meyer. Dr. Umstattd Meyer serves as Professor of Public Health and Associate Dean for Research in the Robbins College of Health and Human Sciences, a community-focused public health research with an emphasis on promoting health and access to opportunities for healthy living through active living.
Dr. Umstattd Meyer has partnered with communities across the nation to foster opportunities and resources that promote healthy living. The National Institutes for Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S., Department of Agriculture, and American Heart Association are just a few of the agencies who have funded her work, a Baylor graduate, she returned to our alma mater in 2010 and she's with us today on the program. Renee, thanks so much for your time. Thanks for joining us today.

Renée Umstattd Meyer:
It's great to be here, Derek. Thanks for the invitation.

Derek Smith:
Great to have you here. And we've enjoyed being able to share your research in a number of different areas. I know people may have seen you. If they weren't familiar with your work, they might've seen you in our Baylor Indeed's campaign that came out last fall in conjunction with the new strategic plan and a lot of great work you do that we're excited to share.
So as we start, let's maybe kind of set, obviously this is a term people know, but let's see it through your eyes. Active living and healthy living, what do those terms mean to you and what are you talking about when you talk about them?

Renée Umstattd Meyer:
Well, to me, active living is an essential component of healthy living, and to thriving and flourishing in the bodies that we've been given. It's incorporating physical activity into our daily lives, where all of us, those that are young and throughout our entire lifespan, wherever we live, engage in, and have opportunities to be physically active in safe places throughout each and every day.
Active living includes all types of physical activity. So this could be leisure time movement, which is probably what many of us think about when we hear physical activity. So sports, exercise programming, like dance, or five K's, or triathlons or the training for those things, hiking or walking in our wreck time. But it's also movement for transportation purposes.
So it could be getting to and from places by walking or cycling and physical activity that could be part of our occupations. And for children and youth, this includes active play, both unstructured and structured, and physical education and their occupational roles of a student.
And we were really designed to move our bodies as a key component of our overall health and quality of life. And this is evidenced through the numerous chronic diseases that we know, through rigorous and repeated studies, that are preventable and some even reversible with regular physical activity. And to ensure that we can all be physically active, we really need safe spaces and opportunities and infrastructure to support this.

Derek Smith:
Well, we're going to talk about that, because I know a lot your work has helped communities build infrastructure or discover it or open opportunities. I'm curious for you, the drive to help others do that or just the call, if you will, to help other people think about how to incorporate active living into their lives. Where does that come from for you?

Renée Umstattd Meyer:
As I was just saying, in order for people to experience active living and the resulting healthy living, there must be safe places and opportunities and infrastructure. And I've really felt called into this area of work since I was a teenager, when I realized how important exercise and nutrition are for overall health, prevention of illness, and the ability to just thrive.
And the values of caring for our bodies through exercise and healthy foods has really been instilled within my family since before I was even conceived, through my dad's holistic family medicine practice where he took time to promote health benefits of exercise and healthy diets, and my mom's commitment to locking up the TV literally. And also ensuring that we had fresh fruits and vegetables and whole food meals.
So really by the age of 15, this manifested in my pursuit of becoming a certified aerobics instructor and teaching classes all over town. Presently, this is a deep commitment to ensure that all of our neighbors have safe opportunities in places to be physically active in a multitude of daily life contexts.

Derek Smith:
I think you've described some of the things that your research does, right? You help people find ways to do that at Baylor, but could you take us in that a little more? What are some of the ways, what are some of the questions you try to answer, when you're out conducting research that you do here at Baylor, where are some of the places that takes you to make it happen?

Renée Umstattd Meyer:
Well, at this exact time, you'd probably find me informing places, try to pick some to highlight some of the different things. So first you'd find me working with AgriLife research colleagues to support extension agents that are serving in rural communities across Texas, like down the road in Milan County, to put on Play Streets in their communities, to provide safe and free opportunities for children and their families to engage in physical activity, to gather, to connect, to run, play.
We've been developing materials and Play Streets checkout kits for extension agents, so that they can offer Play Streets in their communities. And this may, our team's going to be in Stephenville and in Vernon to partner with extension agents in those regions, to demo these Play Streets, kits, and in hands-on and how-to workshops. And then we're going to continue to provide tech support with those communities as they, throughout the summer and the upcoming year, implement Play Streets within those communities.
And also we're going to leave the evaluation efforts to help us provide information back to them about how their youth and families are engaged, but also to help us better understand which strategies are most effective and sustainable in those communities.
And we continue to find that summer youth programming efforts have to start early in the calendar year. So if anyone's thinking about how to include Play Streets or other types of physical activity opportunities to counter how sedentary their youth are in the summer, now's the time to start thinking about it. Second, you'd find me in Richmond, Texas, which is just outside of Houston, and an emerging agrihood community called Indigo, partnering with Meristem Community's developers, Scott Snodgrass and Clayton Garrett, and a team of Baylor and Texas A&M colleagues. And agrihoods are beginning to pop up across the globe as a hopeful approach to more holistic living.
Yet there's really limited data examining the hypothesized health benefits of this community design. And in this exciting partnership that's really getting started, and we've been working with them for about a year and a half, we have the privilege to learn alongside and evaluate the health impacts of the mission and vision of Scott and Clayton, who are really committed to creating places for people that are human-centric, sustainable, and holistically connect people with the land and its natural resources. And Indigo is a community designed with agriculture infused at its core, where residents can engage in localized farming, eat the foods that are grown down the street with the aim of connecting residents with one another, and to their environments through farming, food, nature, movement, and thoughtful people-centric design.
And really with this project, you'll find me working with our research team and students collecting information through surveys, focus groups, observations, objective measures, to better understand the health impacts of living in a community design in this innovative way, including physical activity, diet, social connection, connection with nature, and other things like blood pressure, cholesterol, body mass index.
Third, you would find me training teams in conducting environmental and policy active living assessments and rural communities across the State of Pennsylvania as part of a National Cancer Institute-funded PA Moves trial. That's under the direction of Dr. Katherine Schmitz, who's at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Hellman Cancer Center. And while the focus of this program is to partner with clinicians in rural communities to determine if referring inactive patients to a move line program, kind of like a smoke line, but a move line for physical activity, will help them to be more active over time. I have the great privilege of serving as a co-investigator to help really understand the environmental context of these participants.
And then fourth, you'd find me doing this work with my family. So attempting to increase opportunities for safe, enjoyable, active play and movement, for each of us to enjoy together as a family. So like our family dance parties in our living room, nature hikes, triathlons, but also as individuals.
And my husband and I are also okay being the bad guys, saying no to one more TV show even when they're bored, so bored. We've realized if we wait long enough that sometimes it's literally only three to five minutes and the next thing we know they're engaging in creative play. Someone is cartwheeling or dancing or running through the house to the backyard. And my husband and I then also try to support one another, encouraging each other to jump on the bike, do some yoga, go for a walk or run, even when there are still dishes, still dishes in the sink. And we are both tired after a long day or week of work.

Derek Smith:
And remember, you and your husband are part of an esteemed group at Baylor, as both husband and wife on the Baylor faculty, correct?

Renée Umstattd Meyer:
We are.

Derek Smith:
That's great. You know Renee, you mentioned a couple of terms that I wanted to ask you to describe one you did and that was the Agrihoods, but the other is Play Streets. For those who don't know what they are, what are they? And if you suddenly dropped us in the middle of an active Play Street, what are some of the things we would see?

Renée Umstattd Meyer:
Well, first off, they're my happy place. Been very thankful to work in the realm of Play Streets for the last, almost decade. And I'll start off with a more formal definition and then I'll give more of a descriptive response.
Play Streets are temporary closures of streets or the use of accessible areas that are used for a specified time period, usually between two to five hours, to create a safe space for children, adolescents, and families to engage in active play. And they can be recurring, they can be episodic. And we've really documented, our team has documented a lot of benefits, both health and social benefits to the community and the individuals and from Play Streets.
But if you were to all of a sudden be dropped down into a Play Street, you would see some of the most joyful, and hear a bunch of joyful noises. So laughter, bright eyes, huge smiles, running, unstructured plays, silliness, some might call it joyful chaos, kids connecting, neighbors connecting, dancing balls, in the summer, especially in Texas, usually some version of water, so sprinklers or some sort of just a spigot or a hose. And you'll see kids that are willing to do push-up contests, or obstacle courses if someone with the whistle and a timer is encouraging them to do it. So basically just fun, joy, movement, connection, be kind of that experience.

Derek Smith:
As I ask you this, I know to you and probably to a lot of our listeners who are in the research room, this is an obvious question, but maybe with those outside as you describe these things, I think most of us recognize, yeah, that is good. People being active, looking for ways to get kids active, and especially in the era of binge TV, getting them away from that doing things. But I know you really focus on things that are evidence-based, studying what works, how to implement, etc. What does that idea of taking these fun things and really turning how to hone in on making them work really well, what does that mean to you?

Renée Umstattd Meyer:
It is a great place. It's a space of curiosity for me, which is where I feel like all research is coming out of, is how do things work, and in my mind, how can we make them better and how can they be more impactful coming from that, service to the communities that we're engaged with of that responsibility. And so with Play Streets or really any of these pieces is trying to understand what really does bring about the activity, what really does engage the children and/or the families if we're really trying to promote the social connection within that. And so studying in, sometimes it's compare this approach to that approach. And when we evaluate that systematically, can we see that there is better engagement through observation and through measurement of physical activity, if that's one of the outcomes that we're interested in, or measurement of social connection. And being able to document which ones of those are bringing about more of those outcomes that we're interested in. And being intentional about setting up.
So that might be one community has one approach and another community has a different approach that they're testing within that, to bring that about. And another piece too is to understand what's sustainable. If Play Streets are effective and we've shown that they are effective to increasing physical activity and social connection, how do we encourage and support and better understand how communities can continue to implement Play Streets, and what make them more sustainable within that context. And so some of that requires collecting the data to better understand what worked for those implementers. How can we learn from those implementers to help encourage other communities in other future Play Streets?

Derek Smith:
This is Baylor Connections. We are visiting with Renee Umstattd Meyer, Professor of Public Health at Baylor. And Renee, you mentioned different communities. I know you've worked all over the country. You've mentioned specifically here in Texas and Pennsylvania. Is it fun for you and what's especially meaningful to you about seeing what is unique to an individual community with the obstacles that they have to overcome and then working with them, I guess, is it fair to say to equip them to deal with these, long-term?

Renée Umstattd Meyer:
First off, it's a joy to get to build the relationships, I would start there at a privilege. And I think part of it is getting just to know them as individuals, but also as communities and communities have their own personalities. And really coming from a perspective of trying to understand the strengths and the assets and the desires and goals of those communities. And then, also acknowledging that there might be challenges and what are those challenges and how can we work within the balance of the assets, that the individuals, the organization that the community has, and that they're bringing and the expertise they're bringing to the table to be able to say, and where are we trying to go? Where are you trying to go? What goals are we trying to reach and how can we work with those assets, but also advocate for maybe the resources that aren't there. Because oftentimes, and specifically rural communities, not all the resources that are needed are there, whether that's built infrastructure, safety, and there's lots of competing demands.

Derek Smith:
Visiting with Renee Umstattd Meyer here on Baylor Connections. And shifting just a little bit here, when I ask you about doing this work here at Baylor, and we've talked about it fits into a lot of the direction that the university's focusing on as we move into the new strategic plan. So I'm curious first few, as a Baylor alum, what does it mean and what's special about being able to do this work, specifically, here at Baylor?

Renée Umstattd Meyer:
It's really exciting to be able to do this work at Baylor. It's really well-aligned, I feel. I feel really called to serve my neighbors and all of those around me. And really like Jesus modeled, especially those who have less than myself. I'm very grateful for what's been gifted to me, but also feel called in that way. I believe that really this is why the work was put on my heart, why I became curious about better understanding the differences across the rural-urban continuum when it comes to active living, and why continue to connect with rural communities to work towards understanding how we can provide effective and sustainable opportunities for all of us to live active and healthy lives.
And then, when I think about our new strategic plan, which is really an extension of where we've been moving, I really see this work aligning and embraced throughout all of Baylor and Deeds, and also through Robin's College Parallel strategic plan in our signature research areas of improving health access and quality and prevention of chronic diseases and conditions. And specifically in Baylor Deeds through the commitments of interdisciplinary research, this work requires working across disciplines to be effective, and also within a caring and global community and Christian stewardship. And then, really the whole thing, because knowing that our students are going to flourish by engagement with research like this and others across campus research pursuit. So to me, it's all just intertwined and fits well from my perspective.

Derek Smith:
It does. Yeah. And you use the word flourish talking about students, but human flourishing is mentioned within the plan and certainly we've had a lot of professors doing work in this area. Broad question, but what does that concept of human flourishing, does that impact your work in any way?

Renée Umstattd Meyer:
It absolutely does. When I think about healthy living and active living and how essential active living is to healthy living and to being able to just have our bodies and our experiences and our souls able to thrive in this world. And so that flourishing element of the work that I do, I believe lets our bodies be able to connect with others around us the way we were designed, and the way God designed us, and for our bodies to work the way they were supposed to work. And if we don't have that component there, I think the flourishing element can be challenged. And so to me, this work fits very well within human flourishing and thriving, or quality of life would be another term that's kind of synonymous in some ways within more of a public health framework. But it's all towards moving towards quality of life, towards thriving towards human flourishing. So to me, it's very well intertwined.

Derek Smith:
For sure. And maybe this is a simpler question as it relates to this. Certainly the ideas of human flourishing are lofty and important, but even just, is it kind of fun for you? It feels like the life these days throws a lot of things at us that can, I don't know, make it easy for at least some of us, myself included, not to be as active. Is it fun for you to be able to kind of step in and I don't know, be a voice reminding people of just the benefits of this, the ways that it can help us prevent chronic disease, or just be healthier and happier?

Renée Umstattd Meyer:
Yes. It's also great to be my own voice as a reminder. Just there is a lot coming at us, all of us right now and always, and it is something we can actively do that has physiological and socio-emotional benefits. It's something that we can say, I'm going to get up and I'm going to go for a walk. I'm going to do that outside. So I get the benefit of nature at the same time.
And that it actually has that impact and being able to help us re-regulate in some ways and to calm down and as well at the same time prevent chronic disease, which as we get older is just, our risks go up the longer that we're around. So I feel grateful that I can speak into that space.
And then whether it's fortunate or unfortunate, I can also be my own reminder in that, that it is beneficial and how do we build that in. And just a reminder, it doesn't have to be an hour. It doesn't have to be the glorious bike ride that was three hours long that I used to enjoy in my youth. It can be a walk, and it's very beneficial.

Derek Smith:
Well, you just mentioned a couple of them, and as we close out, and I just want to ask you, we leave people with something actionable. Most of us can stand to be a little more active. So are there any general thoughts you have to help us either from a mindset or just from a, here's a good activity that you mentioned, a couple of things we could take away as we wind down on the program.

Renée Umstattd Meyer:
I would say make it simple and pick something that you enjoy. And if you don't remember what you enjoy, start trying a few different things. Try to make a commitment, put it in your calendar and treat that commitment as if it's a meeting with your boss, that it's important and you're going to have that be a priority. And it doesn't have to be long, like I was just saying, I think some of us that were athletes or really enjoyed long bouts and whatever that might be, that activity for me was a three-hour bike ride. It doesn't have to be that to be meaningful, or to find joy, it's just a different phase of life and realizing that it's important regardless.
And I would say thinking about if anyone's like me and they sit at their desk all day trying to schedule in times to actually get up and just move throughout the day. So am I going to walk across campus to get lunch? Am I going to do a quick walk break? Am I going to have a walking meeting? Am I going to park further away? We have a beautiful campus here and many others have beautiful campuses or places you work, but walk a few blocks, park a few blocks away and walk further into your office. It's beautiful and you can sit there and admire the nature around you as well as get a few more steps on the way in.
And then I would also encourage us to think about those around us in addition to our own spaces, and thinking about maybe there are people that have more challenges, our neighbors to doing that, and are there ways that we can ask questions, brainstorm solutions, bring those ideas up to decision makers if there aren't necessarily places that allow everybody to be able to take a walk as easily as we do.

Derek Smith:
That's great. Well, good advice, good thoughts. And Renee, I really appreciate your time today. We look forward to seeing the results of your continued research as you look at neighborhoods, and certainly continue the work you've done in Play Streets and other areas. But thank you so much for your time today.

Renée Umstattd Meyer:
Thank you so much, Derek.

Derek Smith:
Great to have you with us. Renee Umstattd Meyer, Professor of Public Health and Associate Dean for Research in the Robbins College of Health and Human Sciences, our guest today on Baylor Connections. I'm Derek Smith. Reminder, you can hear this in other programs online, baylor.edu/ connections, and you can subscribe on iTunes. Thanks for joining us here on Baylor Connections.