PEOPLE who walk to work are 40 per cent less
likely to develop diabetes and 17 per cent less likely to develop high blood
pressure than those who drive, according to a new study.
Researchers analysed data from 20,000
United Kingdom (UK) residents to examine how the ways they travelled to work
affected their health.
Walking, cycling and using public transit
all were linked to a lower risk of being overweight than driving or taking a
taxi. People who bicycled to work were about half as likely to have diabetes as
those who commuted by car.
The study also found that 19 per cent of
people who used private transport – such as cars, motorcycles or taxis – to get
to work were obese, contrasted with 15 per cent of those who walked and 13 per
cent of those who cycled.
Modes of getting to work varied widely in
different parts of the United Kingdom. For example, 52 per cent of people in
London used public transit, compared with five per cent in Northern Ireland,
according to the study appearing August 6 in the American Journal of Preventive
Medicine.
High blood pressure, diabetes and being
overweight all are major risk factors for heart and circulatory disease. The
new findings show that people could reduce their risks of serious health
problems such as heart attacks by avoiding car commutes, the researchers said.
“This study highlights that building
physical activity into the daily routine by walking, cycling or using public
transport to get to work is good for personal health,” Anthony Laverty, of the
School of Public Health at Imperial College London, said in a college news
release.
“The variations between regions suggest
that infrastructure and investment in public transport, walking and cycling can
play a large role in encouraging healthy lives, and that encouraging people out
of the car can be good for them as well as the environment,” he said. Although
the researchers uncovered an association between walking or cycling to work and
decreased risk of diabetes and high blood pressure, they did not necessarily
prove a cause-and-effect link.
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