Active Transport to work
Tue Jul 29 2008
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Cut your fuel costs???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? help take Australia off the 1st place podium
Congratulations! Australia is now standing on the 1st place podium as the fattest nation in the world-yes we are beating the USA (26% of Australians are now obese compared with 25% of Americans). This is one first place finish not to be proud of. We are a very sedentary nation with just over half of us undertaking sufficient physical activity.
Lengthy, congested travel to work has been shown to have a negative impact on people's relationships, psychological and physiological wellbeing. Reports indicate that those commuting to work in congested traffic are arriving with feelings of tension, stress, fatigue and physical pain and stiffness (Barbato & Flood, 2005).
A possible solution to get us moving more and reduce the negative impact caused by congested travel, is to undertake active transport to work. Examples of active transport include; riding a bike, walking, and getting off the bus a stop early, letting the legs do the rest.
Active transport allows exercise to be incorporated into daily life, making it a habit and thus easier to stick to. In many cases active transport matches the time it takes to commute to work via car and may even reduce travel time. There is nothing more satisfying than riding a bike to work, sitting in the bike lane and zooming past the bumper-to-bumper traffic containing stressed drivers about to road rage each other. Instead of arriving to work with feelings of stress, anger and frustration active transport provides a hit of endorphins and serotonin; (the feel good hormones) to kick start the day.
Active transport provides an opportunity to burn calories and fat off your body (do your part to combat the fat Aussie!) as opposed to petrol out of you car tank-with rising fuel costs tipped to hit $2 per litre in the not too distant future, active transport will save your hip pocket too. If more people undertook active transport the environment would also benefit. Together cars, buses, motorbikes and trucks release more than 75% of carbon monoxide emissions, impacting not only the environment but also public health.
Additionally, active transport can lower the exposure of an individual to air pollutants. Expose has been associated with a range of adverse health complications including eye irritations, headaches and cancer. A 2004 study found that individuals who walked or cycled showed significantly lower levels of exposure to air pollutants than those travelling by car (Chertok et al. 2004).?
Active transport to work poses many benefits to the individual and environment. It can help to reduce fuel costs and help take Australia off the number one spot as the fattest nation.
?What can you do to incorporate active transport on your way to work?
References
Barbato, C & Flood, M, 2005, Off to Work: Commuting in Australia. Viewed 2nd July 2008 https://www.tai.org.au/documents/dp_fulltext/DP78.pdf
Chertok, M. A., Voukelatos, V., Sheppeard., & Rissel, C., 2004, Comparison of Air Pollution Exposure for Five Commuting MAode in Sydney-Car, train, bicycle and walking. Health Promotion Journal of Australia, 15 (1).
