"Live, Learn and Play": building strategic alliances between professional sports and public health.

Public-private partnerships allow communities and corporate entities to pool resources to address a mission of relevance to their common constituency or consumer base. Collaborations between public health and professional sports may present unique opportunities to improve health outcomes related to physical activity since athletes are fitness icons, both for adults and children. There are many "win-win" opportunities, as sports venues regularly host huge numbers of spectators, offering food and entertainment, providing hours of exposure, and introducing new ideas for engaging fans in order to remain a competitive draw. In 2008, the San Diego Padres embarked on a communitywide fitness initiative, FriarFit, including incorporating 10-minute Instant Recess breaks during their Sunday homestand pre-game shows. Many lessons have been learned that may be useful to others mounting such initiatives, such as: there is more at stake in cost-benefit and risk-benefit assessment for sports executives, requiring greater caution and circumspection than is typical for public health projects; the core business of the corporate entity must be accommodated without undermining the health objectives; and health aims must be addressed in a way that is financially viable and delivers tangible value for profit-making concerns, in terms of marketing, revenues or brand enhancement.

Time perspective as a potential tool for psychotherapeutic intervention.

This pilot study shows (1) similarities among adults in the patterns of organization of the past, present, and future based upon individual imagery and spatial representation of their personal perspective of their lives and (2) a relationship between perceived health and future-orientation, i.e., how far into their future a person imagines self still to be alive. The data support the concept of a personal spatial representation of past, present, and future (a timeline) and sets the foundation for the development of psychological interventions based on this representation for 50 participants (23 men and 27 women). When asked to visualize their personal timelines, subjects indicated a general pattern of their future spatially located to the right and in front of themselves; their past was generally located to the left or behind. The distance into the future seen by participants initially (M +/- SE) were 8 +/- 2.3 yr., 16 +/- 2.8 yr., and 27 +/- 5.5 yr. for the self-reported health status of "poor", "good", and "excellent", respectively (p < .05). Research must firmly establish general patterns of spatial representations of time (timeliness) across cultures, age, race, and beliefs, and explore implications for treatment.