Pursuing happiness through parks: the obesity argument for continued investment in public parks.

The father of lateral thinking, Edward De Bono, wrote an article about the case of the fat Duchess of Devonshire who, after repeated and fruitless consultations with physicians, finally got her obesity under control by eating more--not less. De Bono's theory rests in the fact that the duchess not only kept her hunger under control by reducing the urge to binge through frequent snacking, her new philosophy on life made it possible to substitute other activities for meal time. The reason it worked is that the duchess, like most obesity sufferers, wanted to change. As America increasingly wants to change its national obesity trend, it could similarly benefit from some lateral thinking.

Depending on your source, as much as one-third of the American public may be suffering from obesity. Because the obese image is not one that we aspire to, given the emphasis on slimness, fitness and health in American marketing and television programming, we can assume that obesity correlates with unhappiness. Using De Bono's approach, the cure for obesity is not a diet, but rather happiness.

A few people will always be willing to settle for whatever limited happiness can come from continued food addiction. But, what of the others? What about the social costs of treating obesity? What has happened to a country with a founding ethic of the pursuit of happiness? Could obesity be an indicator of deeper national malaise?

I am willing to wager that parks can demonstrate many alternatives to food as an antidote to unhappiness. And, because obesity sufferers desire happiness and probably have tried numerous diets in search of it, they may be open to creative ways of breaking the cycle of seeking happiness through food. Of all the public agencies of government, only one is totally dedicated to opening the door to the pursuit of happiness--parks and recreation.

Of course there's the obvious connection: parks + recreation = exercise. And, no doubt, along with diets, the majority of obese Americans have probably tried exercise as a way to lose pounds. But, why not instead convince people to perceive parks, recreation and exercise as roads to happiness, self-discovery and a healthy lifestyle? For the moment, let's just consider parks as providers of happiness.

It has been said that there is a thin person inside every obese person struggling to get out. One of the things that parks do, and do very well, is prompt us to discover ourselves. Discovery, particularly of the self, can be a life-long source of happiness. Parks challenge us to find ourselves within the spider web of life. They can fill us with music, awe us with majesty, humble us with history, free us with spaciousness and inspire us with hopes and dreams.

Every public park is the love child of someone's emotional connection to the land. Every public park was set aside to share that emotional connection. Most public parks have a wide array of programs designed to make everyone a part of their reason for existence. Like the duchess, it might require having to try more than one type before finding the park that opens eyes to the wonder of discovery, to the magic of natural beauty, and to the fulfillment of being involved in something that never was considered possible. America's public parks can endlessly feed all who hunger for happiness.

Recreation, of any kind, as a diversion is well understood by all of us, right? Wrong. Take a good look at the word: it's re-creation, not amusement. Isn't renewal, revitalization, recovery and rebirth what the duchess was looking for; what we all expect in some measure from our recreational activities? Take any recreation to the outdoors and you have instantly added value to it. What does a chess game played in a park have over a chess game played indoors? Only sunshine, flesh air, change of scenery, new spectators and open space. Recreation is to the pursuit of happiness as parks are to the playing field.

One of the fastest-growing outdoor activities today is the therapeutic use of wilderness. The holistic idea behind it is simple: by exposing oneself, even briefly, to the challenges of the wild, the challenges of civilization become much less formidable. Obesity is unlikely to yield to simple diversion. Holistically, if recreation is to lead to happiness, it must be at least as fulfilling as food.

Redefining recreation to focus on happiness is no different than redefining wilderness experiences to make them therapeutic. Volunteering in a park is widely considered "recreation" by many. Volunteering to provide outdoor experiences for school children, to help maintain and restore park features, and to help visitors can all be seen as recreational routes to happiness and fulfillment for anyone, including the obese. Recreation is personal--it belongs to each of us. It can be as passive or as active as we want it to be. In a park, no one sets the norms for recreation but you. If it re-creates you, it is recreation.

Finally, let's apply some lateral thinking to exercise as a prescription for obesity. Forget about exercise as a calorie burner and concentrate on it as a healthy lifestyle. The lateral approach might take the following sequence of planning a picnic in the park. The picnic would be focused on food quality rather than food quantity; and it would be themed to reflect the park, the season and the reason for the event. The presentation would, in every way, enhance the theme and prolong the event--not fast food from a bucket, but slow food with good music, good friends, low in calories and high in flavor. Imagine an incomparable setting with no tip, no waiting, no hassle and no guilt, followed by a stroll in the park. A simple life change that is still food-centered, but is close to calorie neutral simply by laterally changing the meaning of "eating out."

From literally hundreds of possible examples from parks, I choose the picnic planning sequence because it is so widely available. But, even more important, notice that the setting was changed from the nearest fast food feedlot to a natural setting--a setting that appeals to all of our senses and feeds our curiosity rather than our stomachs.

Isn't that the key to breaking existing unhealthy lifestyles? Think about exercise simply as a way of physically getting to new places--places we couldn't get to before; and the calorie burning becomes a bonus. Exercise should not be thought of as the price we pay for eating, but as a way to live life to the fullest.

Obesity is probably a pretty solid indicator of our progression toward a more modern, fast-paced society. So, it is probably not entirely fair to equate it solely with unhappiness. However, it clearly obstructs the pursuit of almost anything except food, as well as being decidedly limiting and restrictive on life and liberty. So, it makes sense to not only address it as a public health problem, but to declare it a threat to every obese person's independence. Our public parks offer three important reasons in dealing with America's obesity pandemic: the pursuit of happiness, the discovery of self and a healthy lifestyle. Isn't it time for America to ante up and mandate some creative partnerships between its public health agencies and its parks?

Will LaPage has written extensively on the ethics of park management, and has been a consultant for several national park systems on building effective park partnerships.