Dr Jenna Panter and Dr Oliver Mytton, of the MRC Epidemiology Unit and Centre for Diet and Activity Research (CEDAR) have published new research, in the journal Heart, that identifies that swapping your car for more physically active forms of travel may reduce your risk of premature death.
 
Most physical activity studies focus on sport and recreational activity – intense activities often lasting many minutes. They were interested in understanding the impact of everyday activity on health. For many, everyday activity, like walking or cycling for travel, may be more acceptable, attractive and practical than going to the gym.
 
At the start of the study, 350,000 adults from the UK Biobank study revealed their travel habits, as well as other important health behaviours, such as smoking. Researchers compared people who only used the car for travel with those who undertook some walking, either alone or in combination with the car or public transport. The research identified that more active patterns of travel, compared with exclusive car use, were associated with reduced risk of heart disease, stroke and death.
 
Further discussion can be found in The Conversation