A new study (April 27 2017) finds if you Indoor Cycle or bike or walk to work, you might live longer.
This study comes from the University of Glasgow in the United Kingdom where researchers assessed data of over 264,000 people with an average age of 53.
Over the 5-year study period, researchers compared active commuters to those who were mostly stationary, like driving a car or riding a bus to work.
They found walking to work was associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease and mortality. But those who cycled to work, cut their risk of death from any cause by 41%, cancer by 45% and heart disease by 46%.
Walking to work was associated with 27% lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease and a 36% lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, but not cancer or premature death overall.
This study analysed data from 264,337 participants from UK Biobank who were asked questions about their usual mode of commuting to work and then followed up for 5 years. The new cases of cancer, heart attacks and deaths in that 5-year period were assessed and related to their mode of commuting.
The researchers believe that their findings suggest that policies designed to make it easier for people to commute by bike may present major opportunities for public health improvement.
Dr Jason Gill, from the Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences, said: “Cycling all or part of the way to work was associated with substantially lower risk of adverse health outcomes. Those who cycled the full length of their commute had an over 40% lower risk of heart disease, cancer and overall mortality over the 5 years of follow-up.
“If these associations are causal, these findings suggest that policies designed to make it easier for people to commute by bike, such as cycle lanes, city bike hire, subsidised cycle purchase schemes and increasing provision for cycles on public transport may present major opportunities for public health improvement.”
The greater benefits seen with cycling compared with walking may be because cycle commuters covered longer distances in their commutes than the walkers, the intensity of cycling is higher than walking and the cycle commuters had higher levels of fitness
Dr Carlos Celis-Morales, said: “Walking to work was associated with lower risk of heart disease, but unlike cycling was not associated with a significantly lower risk of cancer or overall death. This may be because walkers commuted shorter distances than cyclists – typically 6 miles per week, compared with 30 miles per week – and walking is generally a lower intensity of exercise than cycling.”
Indoor cycling can give you a good cardiovascular workout. It’s low-impact which works well for those who have back, knee or joint problems. If you’re new to exercise, start with a small goal and gradually increase aiming for 30 minutes a day. Joining an indoor cycling class that pushes you to work harder can help you lose weight, improve heart health and build up muscle endurance.
