GCC: Study concludes cycling is the urban transport mode associated with the greatest health benefits

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GRA

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http://www.greencarcongress.com/2018/08/20180814-cycling.html

. . . The study formed part of the EU funded PASTA (Physical Activity Through Sustainable Transport Approaches) project and was carried out in seven European cities: Antwerp, Barcelona, London, Örebro, Rome, Vienna and Zurich.

A baseline questionnaire was completed by more than 8,800 people, 3,500 of whom also completed a final survey, on transport and health that included questions about what transport modes they used, how often they used the different transport modes, and how they perceived their general health.

The mental-health section of the survey focused on the four major dimensions of mental health (anxiety, depression, loss of emotional control, and psychological well-being), vitality (energy level and fatigue) and perceived stress. The survey also asked about participants’ social relations, including questions about loneliness and contact with friends and/or family.

The transport modes assessed in the study were car, motorbike, public transport, bicycle, electric bicycle and walking. The effects of these transport modes were analysed using both single- and multiple-mode models.

The findings, published in Environment International, show that cycling yielded the best results in every analysis. Bicycles were associated with better self-perceived general health, better mental health, greater vitality, lower self-perceived stress and fewer feelings of loneliness. The second most beneficial transport mode, walking, was associated with good self-perceived general health, greater vitality, and more contact with friends and/or family. . . .

The study’s conclusions regarding transport modes other than cycling and walking were not entirely conclusive.

  • Driving and public-transport use were associated with poor self-perceived general health when the transport modes were analyzed separately, but this effect disappeared in the multiple-mode analyses.

    —Ione Ávila Palencia

Cars were also associated with fewer feelings of loneliness in all of the analyses.

The study’s conclusions regarding transport modes other than cycling and walking were not entirely conclusive.

  • Driving and public-transport use were associated with poor self-perceived general health when the transport modes were analyzed separately, but this effect disappeared in the multiple-mode analyses.

    —Ione Ávila Palencia. . . .

Other studies conducted as part of the PASTA Project have also highlighted the health benefits of cycling. One study found that cyclists have a lower body mass index than non-cyclists and another suggested that as many as 10,000 deaths could be prevented by expanding cycling networks in European cities.
 
Clearly, then, a cycle is a better solution for recreation than expecting to use OPM to enable you to drive an H2 FCV:

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P.S. Please don't try to tell me you live to far away from where you want to vacation to use this. That would simply mean that you live in the wrong spot.
 
RegGuheert said:
Clearly, then, a cycle is a better solution for recreation than expecting to use OPM to enable you to drive an H2 FCV:

P.S. Please don't try to tell me you live to far away from where you want to vacation to use this. That would simply mean that you live in the wrong spot.
I do live too far away to use a bike for transport to my typical weekend or longer recreational trip in a reasonable period of time, which is why I use a car for such trips - I live in the right spot for work and other routine tasks, as I'm close enough to walk and bike to all of them and leave my car parked. OTOH, if the recreation of the trip is bike touring/camping, as opposed to just being transportation to get to where I can do some other form of recreation, then a bike is the right (only) choice. But you were just being snarky rather than addressing the subject of the study, the results of which confirm other such studies that have been done over the years.

There's no question that I and most of the people I know who do either type of commuting find riding or walking a great stress reducer coming home from work, as well as our having better physical health than most people our age who get less daily exercise (let alone the 2/3rds of Americans who are overweight/obese, and who move under their own power as little as possible). It's no surprise that heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, and hypertension are epidemic here, and heart disease is the leading cause of death, with stroke ranked #5 (ref. hypertension and high cholesterol), diabetes at #7 (Type 2 accounts for 95%) and kidney disease at #9; the risk of all of these is reduced by getting more exercise and keeping your weight down. See https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/282929.php
 
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