Making bicycling contagious
Last month a team of Harvard researchers announced that Americans are going to get even fatter than originally predicted. The obesity epidemic will peak when 42% of the U.S. is obese, as opposed to the 34% previously expected. As we all know, obesity not only is a dangerous health condition, but it also takes a serious toll on society, increasing health care costs through the diseases it causes.
We think that bicycling doesn’t get enough credit as a partial solution to the obesity epidemic. So much of the discussion on weight gain and loss centers around what and how much we eat, yet, obviously, a lack of physical activity is a also major cause of obesity. Biycling is a fantastic way to stay active for many reasons. Here are some of our favorites.
- It’s fun. Bicycling is associated with the emotion of joy more than any other mode of transportation (Dutch Institute for Transport Policy, 2007). Also, people exercise for longer when they are outside compared to at home, work, or a gym (Dunton, G., 2009).
- It’s cheap for employers to promote. It costs three to four times more to enroll a sedentary adult in a structured exercise program than to teach them how to integrate moderate-intensity physical activity, like biking for transportation, into their life (Sevick, M., et al., 2000).
- It can replace time we already spend driving. 47% of U.S. workers say that work demands are preventing them from leading a healthier life (National Business Group on Health, 2008). Also, each hour per day spent driving corresponds with a 6% increase in the odds of being obese (Frank, L., et al., 2004).
- It’s proven. A study of nearly 2,400 adults found that those who biked to work were less likely to be obese than those who didn't active commute to work. They had better triglyceride levels, blood pressure, and insulin levels, too (Gordon-Larsen, P., et al., 2009). Another study compared the relationship between bicycling for transportation and obesity in 14 countries, 50 U.S. states, and 47 U.S. cities; in every instance, the places where people used their bikes more had lower levels of obesity (Pucher, J., et al., 2010).
- It forces us to carry our own weight. It takes a billion gallons of fuel every year to drive around the extra weight Americans have gained since 1960 (Jacobson, S., and D. King, 2009).
A secondary finding of the Harvard study is that obesity is contagious—it spreads like an infectious disease between friends and family members. To that we say, take a friend for a bike ride! Let’s make bicycling contagious too.
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