If you live in a town and your work is near by, you may have considered walking or biking to work. The benefit of this is that it’s better for fitness levels.

According to the 1st giant U.S. Study of health and commuting, not many of us actually do it – actually slightly under 17% of working adults surveyed walked or bicycled for any bit of their commute.

Earlier research has revealed that nations with the greatest levels of walking or biking have lower obesity levels too.

But research on how these activities might affect US people has been pretty scarce, until this cross-sectional study. This latest work appears in the July 13, 2009 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Of the study participants, 192 ( 18% ) of the men, 203 ( 16% ) of the ladies were considered active commuters. The average length of the physical part of their daily commute for both the bikers and walkers was five miles. Most of the subjects walked, instead of biked, to work.

The analysis revealed that active commuters did better on treadmill tests of fitness, even if they took into account any other physical activities subjects did in their leisure time.

The findings here suggest the activity of going to work can have an impact on overall fitness.

The participants, more than 2,300 city-dwellers in their middle age were indulging in a federally funded study known as Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults ( CARDIA ).

For men, but not women, analysts discovered that the commuters who walked or biked had better BMI numbers, blood pressure, insulin and triglycerides.

The researchers explain these by suggesting that the ladies in the study walked or biked lesser distances to the office, or were less vigorous in their workouts.

Naturally there’s also the issue of which came 1st, are active folk more certain to be active commuters as well , or is the walk ( or bike ) to work planting the seed for being more active in other areas of life as well?

Being an active commuter isn’t easy.

Beyond the challenge of getting to work sweat-covered and panting, an active commute is often checked by crumbling sidewalks, few bike trails and real concerns about safety.

Zoning in many U.S. Towns keeps commercial and residential areas separate, and this makes commutes longer and being active on the way almost impossible.

Cities that build bike trails have a higher rate of biking, as do places of employment that have on-site showers, changing areas and a secure place to keep your bicycle in the day.

The benefits of active commuting go past your health and the pluses to the environment to include :

- reliable, predictable means to get to and from work, or a point on the way

- works for businesses by encouraging workplace health as well as corporate responsibility

- reduces stress and improves productivity of the commuters

More research is wanted to find the amount of active commuting that will benefit your wellbeing, but this earth and health friendly method to get from home to work is definitely going to get more attention over the coming years as it seems to be better for fitness levels overall.

Next – just head on over to the Daily Health Bulletin for information why you should ride your bike to work. Click here for more details on study and more reasons to ride your bike to work.

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Filed under: Exercise

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