Cycling & walking - the benefits

There are many benefits to be gained from cycling or walking to school. In the UK today fewer and fewer children are getting enough exercise thanks to our increasingly sedentary lifestyles and yet amazingly 9 out of 10 children own a bike - they just don't use it to cycle to school!

The facts

• The number of 5-16 year olds traveling to school by car has doubled since 1985 ¹
• 30% of boys and 40% of girls do not achieve the minimum of one hour per day of moderate physical activity
• 21.8% of boys and 27.5% of girls aged 2-15 years are either overweight or obese ²
• Physical inactivity in England alone costs the NHS £8.2 billion a year ³
• Just one third of children spend two or more hours a week doing PE. A Hertfordshire study showed that Year 8 pupils walking the school journey each day used more calories than during the 2 hours of PE they receive each week ⁴
• Car passengers in slow-moving traffic face pollution levels 2-3 times higher than those experienced by pedestrians ⁵
  45% of pupils would like to cycle to school - just 4% actually do ⁶
• 90% of children own a bike and ride out of school ⁶
• 23% of cars on the road in urban areas at the morning peak of 15 minutes to nine are taking children to school ¹
  The average length of the school trip for children aged 5-10 is just 1.7 miles. For children aged 11-16 the average trip from home to school is 2.3 miles ¹

The health benefits

Health benefits from cycling and walking are significant. Recent research published by the BMJ showed that children who walked to school were more likely to be active throughout the day, giving further proof that an active school journey has knock on effects to other areas of their lives.⁷

The Department of Health's recommendation 2005, state that all young people should participate in physical activity of at least moderate intensity for one hour per day. The journey to school is an ideal way for both parents and young people to become more active as cycling and walking can be easily incorporated into everyday activity. Whether it's a 30-minute or 5-minute journey, every little bit counts.

While young people rarely suffer directly from heart disease, strokes and diabetes, they are increasingly demonstrating the early signs of all these potentially life-threatening illnesses, putting them at serious risk in adulthood. Obesity and asthma are on the rise in young people, with physical inactivity highlighted as a serious threat to our collective health. In fact, the World Health Organisation stated in its report 'Move to Health 2002' that: "preliminary data suggests that a sedentary lifestyle is one of the ten leading global causes of death and disability."

According to the House of Commons Select Committee on Health's Report on Obesity 2004: "not only is physical activity crucial to children's health, but it also directly benefits academic performance."

Alongside general fitness levels, being physically active can help:

• Maintain a healthy weight
• Develop a more healthy heart
• Reduce the risk of developing type II diabetes - physically active people have a 33-50% lower risk of developed type II diabetes compared with inactive people
• Reduce the risk of strokes
• Reduce pollution and its effects on asthma and wheezing
• Improve young people's confidence, independence and sense of well-being
• By getting active and taking on daily physical exercise like cycling and walking to school, young people can benefit not just from a healthier, happier childhood, but a healthier future too.

¹ Department for Transport (2005) - National Travel Survey 2004
² Sproston, K and Primatesta, P (eds) (2003) Health Survey for England 2002 Volume 1: The health of children and young people
³ Department of Health (2004) At least five a week - evidence on the impact of physical activity and its relationship to health - a report from the Chief Medical Officer
⁴ Mackett, P. 2004 Making Children Healthier through walking
⁵ ETA 1997 Road user exposure to air pollution
⁶ BikeIt survey 2004
⁷ Alexander L., Inchley J., Todd J., Currie D., Cooper A.R., Currie C. (2005) The broader impact of walking to school among adolescents: seven day accelerometry based study. Published in the BMJ 17 August 2005.