Pedal power

Want to live longer? Reduce your risk of cancer? And heart disease? Then cycle to work, say scientists.The biggest study into the issue linked using two wheels with a halving of the risk of cancer and heart disease.The five-year study of 250 000 UK commuters also showed walking had some benefits over sitting on public transport or taking the car.The team in Glasgow said cycling took no willpower once it became part of the work routine - unlike going to the gym.The five-year study compared people who had an “active” commute with those who were mostly stationary.'Active commuters'Overall, 2 430 of those studied died, 3 748 were diagnosed with cancer and 1 110 had heart problems.But, during the course of the study, regular cycling cut the risk of death from any cause by 41%, the incidence of cancer by 45% and heart disease by 46%.The cyclists clocked an average of 14 km per week, but the further they cycled the greater the health boon.Walking cut the odds of developing heart disease but the benefit was mostly for people walking more than six miles per week.“This is really clear evidence that people who commute in an active way, particularly by cycling, were at lower risk,” Dr Jason Gill, one of the researchers, told the BBC News website.“You need to get to work every day so if you built cycling into the day it essentially takes willpower out of the equation.“What we really need to do is change our infrastructure to make it easier to cycle - we need bike lanes, to make it easier to put bikes on trains, showers at work.”People who combined cycling and public transport in their commute also showed health benefits. Out of breath The way the study, published in the British Medical Journal, was carried out means it is not possible to determine a clear cause and effect.However, the effect was still there even after adjusting the statistics to remove the effects of other potential explanations like smoking, diet or how heavy people are.It means the reason cycling cuts cancer risk cannot be down to weight loss in the study.Other explanations include cyclists being leaner (even if they are not weighing any less) and lower levels of inflammation in the body.Cycling is thought to be better than walking as the exercise is both longer and more intense.Clare Hyde from Cancer Research UK said: “This study helps to highlight the potential benefits of building activity into your everyday life.“You don't need to join a gym or run the marathon. Anything that gets you a bit hot and out of breath - whether it's cycling all or part way to work or doing some housework - can help make a difference.”But how good is cycling for our health, especially if we've not done that much exercise in a while?Or would we be fitter and indeed safer pumping some iron in the gym or splashing around in the pool? Take the number of calories burned: on the face of it, cycling is not off to a winning start.“If you compare intense running with intense cycling, you will burn more calories running, as you are shifting your body mass,” said Professor Jamie Timmons, from Loughborough University.“However, it is like comparing apples and oranges.”The problem with simply comparing calories is that it assumes anyone can just get up and decide to exercise without any consequence.Low impactRunning may be better at shifting your body mass, but that body mass is also being thrust into the ground with every step, pounding your joints.Timmons says this is where cycling, as a low-impact sport, comes into its own, particularly when people are starting out.Around 70% of body weight goes through the saddle and handlebars instead of through your ankles. And to put it politely, the bigger you are, the more important that will be.“You will be able to do more intense cycling and avoid injuries, as you're not pounding into the ground,” said Timmons.Dr Simon Kemp, from the Faculty for Sport and Exercise Medicine, is the type of cyclist who does legs of the Tour de France and readily clocks up 100-mile rides.He says one of the advantages of cycling is that it offers more scope for improvement than other forms of exercise, such as swimming, which is “technically demanding to do it well”.“You can commute to work at 60% of your maximum heart rate, which is a relatively low-intensity activity, or at the top end you can do legs of the Tour de France.”Of course, any form of exercise has health benefits. But several studies have shown that cycling specifically does the trick.A study of 30 640 people living in Copenhagen showed that people who did not cycle to work were 39% more likely to die during the 15-year study.Cycling is one of the most appropriate types of physical activity for the majority of the population as it can be easily incorporated into daily life, can be carried out at different intensities and has few side-effects.Dr Kemp said: “There's very strong evidence for people with very low initial physical fitness that it can result in significant reductions in cardiovascular-disease mortality.”There have also been studies around reducing body fat, better sleep and lowering the risk of Type 2 diabetes.BBC

Pedal power

Comments

Namibian Sun 2025-05-08

Please login to leave a comment

Pedal power

Comments

Namibian Sun 2025-05-08

Please login to leave a comment

Login