Search

A sedentary lifestyle is a major modifiable risk factor for many chronic diseases. Lifestyle modification in order to increase exercise capacity is key in the prevention and rehabilitation of chronic diseases. This could be achieved by active commute. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of daily active commuting on physical activity (PA) and exercise capacity. Seventy‐three healthy hospital employees (age: 46 ± 9 years, 38% male), with a predominantly passive way of commuting, were randomly assigned to two parallel groups, a control group (CG, N = 22) or an intervention group (IG, N = 51), which was further split into public transportation/active commuting (IG‐PT, N = 25) and cycling (IG‐C, N = 26). Both intervention groups were asked to reach 150 min/wk of moderate‐ to vigorous‐intensity exercise during their commute for 1 year. CG maintained a passive commuting mode. All participants underwent assessment of anthropometry, risk factor stratification, and exercise capacity by a medical doctor at the Institute of Sports Medicine, Prevention and Rehabilitation. Weekly physical activity, using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire and commuting behavior, using an online diary, were used to assess physical activity. At the end of the study, the change in exercise capacity did significantly differ between IG and CG (P =.003, ES = 0.82). Actively covered distances through commuting significantly differed between groups (walking P =.026; cycling P <.001). Therefore, active commuting improves exercise capacity and can be recommended to the working population to increase exercise capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sedentary lifestyle is a major modifiable risk factor for many chronic diseases. Global guidelines recommend for maintaining health in adults, at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity of physical activity throughout the week, but compliance is insufficient and health problems arise. One obvious way to overcome this is to integrate physical activity into the daily routine for example by active commuting to work. Scientific evidence, however, is scarce and therefore we set out to perform this systematic review of the available literature to improve understanding of the efficiency of active commuting initiatives on health. Literature searches were performed in PubMed and Cochrane database. Altogether, 37 studies were screened. Thereof, eight publications were reviewed, which included 555 participants. The mean study duration of the reviewed research was 36 ± 26 (8‐72) weeks. Overall, active commuting in previously untrained subjects of both sexes significantly improved exercise capacity, maximal power, blood pressure, lipid parameters including cholesterol, high‐density lipoprotein, and waist circumference. Improvement was independent of the type of active commuting. Despite relatively few studies that were previously performed, this review revealed that active commuting has health beneficial effects comparable to those of moderate exercise training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increased physical activity is associated with numerous health benefits. This study investigated the effect of active commuting (walking and cycling to work) on health‐related quality of life (HRQoL) and absence days from work due to sickness in healthy working adults. In total, 73 participants (age: 46 ± 9 years), all working at a tertiary university hospital in Salzburg, Austria, were randomized into an intervention group (IG, n = 51) and a control group (CG, n = 22). The IG was asked to commute actively for twelve months, whereas the CG did not have to change their usual commuting behavior. IG was divided into two subgroups: IG‐C (cycling, n = 26) was asked to commute by bicycle and IG‐PT (public transport, n = 25) partially using public transportation and walked the remaining distance to work. Significant positive changes in IG were observed in four subcomponents of the SF‐36 (physical functioning (95 [10] to 100 [8.8], P =.023), mental health (82 [15] to 86 [15], P =.036), vitality (65 [20] to 70 [14], P =.005), and general health (70 [19] to 80 [24], P =.004)) as well as the physical component summary score (56.5 [9] to 59.2 [6.3], P =.002). IG‐C showed greater and more statistically significant changes regarding HRQoL compared to IG‐PT. Associations between active commuting and sick‐leave days were only observed in IG‐PT (7.5 [14.8] to 4.0 [11.3] days, P =.038). In conclusion, active commuting improves various components of HRQoL and might therefore be a possible strategy to increase quality of life in the workforce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]