Public transport may be ride to healthier lifestyle
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Employers might consider asking workers to drop their car keys and lock up their bikes in exchange for a bus pass and better health.
Japanese researchers found that public transportation commuters were less likely than drivers, bikers and walkers to be overweight, have high blood pressure, and have diabetes
While people who took public transportation were 44% less likely to be overweight, 27% less likely to have high blood pressure and 34% less likely to have diabetes, “it is unclear whether these risk factors for heart disease and stroke are affected by how you get to work,” the American Heart Association Inc. said in a statement. The study was presented this week at the association’s Scientific Sessions 2015 meeting in Orlando, Florida.
According to researchers, public transportation commuters might actually walk farther to and from train or bus stations than walkers and bikers do while traveling to and from work.
“It may be useful for healthcare providers to ask patients about how they commute,” lead study author Dr. Hisako Tsuji, director of the Moriguchi City Health Examination Center in Osaka, Japan, said in the statement by the American Heart Association.
Study participants included 5,908 Japanese adults who answered questions about how they got to work in 2012.
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