14 DAY TRIAL // At they decision-making level within governments, it is possible to pass legislation that would improve public health and the amount of physical activity that people perform every day. This is the conclusion of a new scientific study that was carried out by experts in the United Kingdom.
The paper was authored by experts at the University of Bristol (UB) School for Policy Studies Center of Exercise, Nutrition and Health Sciences. Expert Rowan Brockman and professor Ken Fox led the research team that put the data together.
One of the most convenient ways of increasing the amount of physical activity in the general population is promoting active travel to work. This means that legislation aimed at reducing car use, and encouraging the use of public transportation, will have a positive effect on public health.
This type of strategy is effective and feasible at the same time. According to the new report, such an approach would make the workforce a lot healthier, and would help improve activity rates within too.
Details of the study, entitled “Physical activity by stealth? The potential health benefits of a workplace transport plan,” appear in the latest online issue of the medical journal Public Health.
For this research, experts looked at trends in walking, cycling and use of the car while commuting to work, among 2,500 people selected from the UB Travel Survey. These people have been given questionnaires assessing their commuting methods once every two years since 1998.
Between 1998 and 2007, car use for commuting has decreased from 50 to 32 percent, whereas the use of bicycles for the same purpose increased from 7 to 12 percent. But the largest rise was identified when it came to walking, from 19 to 30 percent of respondents.
Test participants who did not use cars to get to work met about 80 percent of the recommended requirements for a healthy lifestyle. Walking and cycling were therefore found to improve public health, the UB team explains.
“This study shows that a workplace transport plan, even if it is not designed to improve health, can have a very important effect on increasing physical activity in employees,” says British Heart Foundation research student, Rowan Brockman.
“We were impressed that most of those who were walking or cycling to work were achieving weekly amounts associated with substantial health benefit,” he goes on to add.
However, researchers acknowledge the challenges ahead in getting people to stay healthy.
“It is not easy changing health behaviors. The Bristol University travel strategy looks as though it has been at least as successful as many interventions aimed more directly at increasing activity, such as exercise referral schemes,” says UB expert Ken Fox.
He is a professor of exercise and health sciences at the university, and also an advisor on obesity and physical activity strategies for the UK government.