Health promotion through Active Living

Information from http://activelivingresources.org

Improve Health and Wellness through Active Living

Our nation as a whole is experiencing alarming rates of obesity due to sedentary living and poor diet. This results in 300,000 deaths a year from related illnesses, such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. Being overweight is the second leading cause of death after tobacco use in the country.

There is a tremendous amount of evidence that shows we can prevent many health problems simply by being more active. Obesity and related diseases are easily prevented by 30 minutes of moderate level daily exercise.

This is called "active living." The best way for most of us to stay active, is to take a daily walk or bike ride. Bicycling or walking are two of the best exercises for the cardiovascular system and is very effective at reducing weight and keeping it off.

Life is like riding a bicycle - in order to keep your balance, you must keep moving.
~Albert Einstein

Health and Transportation are connected:

Two major challenges face many communities across the nation:

A health crisis – we have skyrocketing health care costs with an ever increasing demand for health care to treat illnesses associated with the obesity epidemic that spans all age groups.
Growing transportation problems – for 40-50 years we have designed our roads just for motor vehicles. This resulted in busy intersections and roads carrying high speed traffic that make it unpleasant and sometime unsafe for many of us to walk or bicycle.

By improving our streets, we can improve our health, our cities and our lives!

25% of all trips are made within 1 mile of home.
40% of all trips are within 2 miles of home.
50% of the working population commutes 5 miles for less to work.

These are all easily traveled distances by bike. Yet 82% of trips 5 miles or less are made by personal motor vehicle.

What impact can you make by commuting by bike?

People in communities across America want to improve their quality of life. They want a less-stressful lifestyle, a cleaner environment, affordable transportation and better health for themselves and their children. Walking and bicycling is part of the solution. Walkable and bikeable communities experience reduced traffic, better air, and improved public health. Improvements in walking and biking in a community leads to higher property values, increased business growth and increased tourism.

The Cost of Transportation

For most Americans, transportation is an expense second only to housing.
The average American devotes 18 cents out of every dollar it spends to get around.
In some cities, households spend more on transportation than on shelter. Of this spending, 98% is on the purchase, operation and maintenance of automobiles.
The poorest families spend the most, more than one-third of their income on transportation.
Poor people and low income communities lack transportation choices.

Bicycling addresses these issues and provides a simple solution to local transportation and health care challenges also!

Bicycling is not only good for the body; it is also good for the mind. The feelings of accomplishment and relaxation that follow a bike ride, combined with the physical benefits, also lead to reduced stress levels, heightened self-esteem and self-confidence.

The Benefits of Physical Activity

Regular physical activity is one of the most important things you can do for your health. It can help:

Control your weight
Reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease
Strengthen your bones and muscles
Reduce your risk of some cancers
Reduce your risk for type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome
Improve your mental health and mood
Improve your ability to do daily activities and prevent falls, if you're an older adult
Increase your chances of living longer

Active Living Makes a Difference

Assuming you live 2 miles from your job. What difference can you make by riding your bike to work instead of driving?

Each mile you ride, reduces stress, body weight, blood pressure and improves blood chemistry for overall health. You don’t have to carve time out of your day to work out for health or fitness purposes –that would be part of your commute!
You would leave a parking spot available for someone that lives farther away or is injured/sick and cannot ride their bike.
- Consider the high cost of free parking - The capital costs of a parking space range from $2000 to $5000 for a surface lot, and $10,000 to $20,000 a space in a two- or three-story parking structure. A parking space takes up 340 square feet for both the space and the aisle. If you divert five parking spaces from a building project (freeing $10,000 to $25,000 of capital) and use two spaces to build a 680 square foot shower/changing room, and one space for lockers for a dozen bicycles, you still have 680 square feet to plant trees. (www.ibike.org/environment)
You would have one less car causing wear and tear on the road and taking up more than 80 square feet along the road as you travel.
You would eliminate air, water and noise pollution created by driving your motor vehicle. Some people worry they would have to inhale too much pollution riding along a road with traffic. But studies show people inside cars in the travel lanes inhale more pollution than cyclists along the edges of the road. So inhale less and create less pollution!
You would decrease your carbon footprint with each mile bicycled compared to driving:
- Your car emits 0.98 pounds of CO2 (carbon dioxide) each mile you drive (assuming one person driving in a vehicle getting 20 mpg under city commuting conditions).
You would burn around 50 calories for every mile ridden vs. driven. The average bike commuter can lose 13 pounds in a year if eating habits remain the same.
Basic estimate for calories burned: Average adult weighing 154 pounds riding bicycle 12 mph will burn 49 calories per mile:
- Higher number calories burned if: person weights more than 154 lbs, going up hills, headwind, riding in the cold
- Lower number calories burned if: person weighs less than 154 lbs, riding downhill, tailwind
- Calories burned is highly variable based on individual’s strength, stamina, gender differences. This average does not take into account you burn more calories all day long due to increased overall health and metabolic rate.
You can take in the full scene on your trip to or from work and connect with your environment.

Bicycle Prescription

Information from http://www.ibike.org/environment/index.htm#Prescription

Doctors often tell patients not to eat fat or smoke. They should also recommend strategies for reducing driving single-occupancy vehicles (SOV) such as carpooling, taking transit, walking or biking to work.

Each mile motor vehicles are driven contributes to air, water and noise pollution, demand for roads and road maintenance, etc. and is a missed opportunity for a health promoting walks or bicycle rides. The non-motorized alternatives to SOV's reduce stress, promote cardiovascular circulation and leave the environment as clean as you found it.

Car idling—performed daily for 5 to ten minutes by most drivers for reasons of both convenience and necessity—negatively affects fuel consumption and the environment. Every two minutes of car idling consumes the same amount of gas required to drive approximately one mile. If a driver idles for one hour, one gallon of gasoline is wasted. Contrary to automotive myth, restarting a car doesn't damage the engine and, in fact, 10 seconds spent idling consumes more fuel than restarting the engine.[1]

The United States contains less than 5 percent of the world's population but produces 25 percent of the world's greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide.[2] Every gallon of gasoline burned—for driving and idling—releases 20 pounds of carbon dioxide, making the transportation sector responsible for about a quarter of overall US carbon dioxide emissions.[3] Yet individual car owners aren't the only ones responsible for these emissions—so, too, are long-haul truckers and school bus drivers throughout the country.