Too Hot to Exercise? New Research Links Obesity to Temperature and Humidity

AUSTIN, Texas — If you live in the South and have trouble exercising during the muggy summer months, you're not alone. New research by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin has found that adults are less physically active - and more obese - in counties where summers are hot, especially if they are also humid or rainy. The new study, which appears in the American Journal of Public Health , also found that adults are less active and more obese in counties where winters are especially cold, cloudy and dark. Summer weather helps to explain why some parts of the U.S. have more obesity than others. As shown in the study's maps, many of the counties with the people who are least active and most obese are in the Southeast, where the summers are hot and wet, while many of the most active, least obese counties are in the mountain West, where summers are cool and dry. "Living in Texas as I do, the results really resonated for me," said Paul von Hippel , an assistant professor at the LBJ School of Public Affairs who wrote the study with doctoral student Rebecca Benson. "Around June or July here, it starts getting hard to think about going outside for a jog - or even a brisk walk - after work, which is close to the hottest part of the day.