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Abstract
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Background
Physical inactivity increases the risk of many chronic diseases including coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity and some cancers. It is currently recommended that adults should aim to undertake at least 150 min of moderate intensity physical activity in bouts of 10 min or more throughout the week. There are concerns that many adults in the United Kingdom and other high-income countries do not achieve this. An opportunity for working adults to accumulate the recommended moderate activity levels is through the daily commute, and in addition replacing the car for short journeys is likely to reduce sedentary time. Experts in many World Health Organisation (WHO) countries agree that significant public health benefits can be realised through greater use of active transport modes. The aim of this study was to objectively measure the contribution of walking to work to adult physical activity levels.
Methods
Employees (n=103; 36.3±11.7 years) at 17 workplaces in south-west England, who lived within 2 miles (3.2 km) of their workplace, wore ActigraphTM accelerometers for seven days during waking hours and carried GPS receivers during the commute to and from work. Physical activity volume (accelerometer counts per minute (cpm)) and intensity (minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA)) were computed overall and during the walk to work.
Results
Total weekday physical activity was 45% higher in participants who walked to work compared to those travelling by car (524.6.±170.4 vs 364.6±138.4 cpm) and MVPA almost 60% higher (78.1±24.9 vs 49.8±25.2 min per day). No differences were seen in weekend physical activity, and sedentary time did not differ between the groups. Combined accelerometer and GPS data showed that walking to work contributed 47.3% of total weekday MVPA.
Conclusions
Walking to work was associated with overall higher levels of physical activity in young and middle-aged adults. These data provide evidence to support the need for interventions to increase active commuting, specifically walking, in adults.
Language: en |