We know that riding to work generates substantial physical and mental health benefits, but does it cause a drop off in other healthy activities?
Maybe we are out of time? Or don’t think we need it anymore? Or maybe some of us are just too tired?
If this is true, our total activity level could be less than we thought, and the benefits reduced.
A team of medical researchers from Queensland and New South Wales has had a closer look, digging into multiple studies from around the world to see whether active transport displaces other physical activity.
The answer is no. The paper, titled “Does active transport displace other physical activity? A systematic review of the evidence” found that among adults, there is little or no compensatory reduction in overall physical activity in response to participation in active transport.
The research team, comprising researchers from Griffith University, the University of Queensland, the University of New South Wales, the University of Sydney, the George Institute and the NSW Ministry of Health, examined 35 studies, which compared active transport activity to other physical activity.
All studies included males and females, some used self-reported data while others used objective measurements and different methodologies.
Twenty-seven of the studies reported no displacement of physical activity from involvement in active transport.
The researcher report that related studies which are primarily focused on workplace physical activity rather than transport activity show no compensatory reductions in other physical activity.
Other models or mathematical representations used to study physical activity, indicate that when we increase our level of activity in one area, for example riding to work, there is a commensurate increase in overall physical activity. .
The paper states that active travel "increases the levels of physical activity and investments in active transport infrastructure encourage physical activity and generate health benefits".
"Active transport could be well incorporated into daily schedules and may be more regular and less weather dependent than outdoor leisure time physical activity.
"Active transport is also an important equity issue. Active transport infrastructure benefits all socio-economic groups; however, the health benefits are greatest for currently inactive groups."
The paper reports that active transport has the potential to reduce health inequalities "as physical activity levels are socially distributed with those who are more advantaged more likely to be physically active than less advantaged populations".
"Changing infrastructure to support active transport, also moves focus away from individual behaviour change drawing attention to the broader environmental determinants of health and health equity," the study found.
It concludes: "Our findings provide a strong case for the inclusion of the health-related economic benefits of active transport in business cases and cost-benefit analyses of transport infra- structure investments.”
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