bike to work and live longer

http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/con...ct/160/11/1621

All-Cause Mortality Associated With Physical Activity During Leisure Time, Work, Sports, and Cycling to Work
Lars Bo Andersen, PhD, DMSc; Peter Schnohr, MD; Marianne Schroll, PhD, DMSc; Hans Ole Hein, MD


Arch Intern Med. 2000;160:1621-1628.

Background Physical activity is associated with low mortality in men, but little is known about the association in women, different age groups, and everyday activity.

Objective To evaluate the relationship between levels of physical activity during work, leisure time, cycling to work, and sports participation and all-cause mortality.

Design Prospective study to assess different types of physical activity associated with risk of mortality during follow-up after the subsequent examination. Mean follow-up from examination was 14.5 years.

Setting Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Participants Participants were 13,375 women and 17,265 men, 20 to 93 years of age, who were randomly selected. Physical activity was assessed by self-report, and health status, including blood pressure, total cholesterol level, triglyceride levels, body mass index, smoking, and educational level, was evaluated.

Main Outcome Measure All-cause mortality.

Results A total of 2881 women and 5668 men died. Compared with the sedentary, age- and sex-adjusted mortality rates in leisure time physical activity groups 2 to 4 were 0.68 (95% confidence interval, 0.64-0.71), 0.61 (95% confidence interval, 0.57-0.66), and 0.53 (95% confidence interval, 0.41-0.68), respectively, with no difference between sexes and age groups. Within the moderately and highly active persons, sports participants experienced only half the mortality of nonparticipants. Bicycling to work decreased risk of mortality in approximately 40% after multivariate adjustment, including leisure time physical activity.

Conclusions Leisure time physical activity was inversely associated with all-cause mortality in both men and women in all age groups. Benefit was found from moderate leisure time physical activity, with further benefit from sports activity and bicycling as transportation.

for their idea of getting to work as exercise. Even just taking public transportation you get out and move more than in a car.

www.activetransportation.org

that's right. when Raleighdon has to take the bus, he walks almost 1/2 mile, and up a 16% grade hill. (and people wonder why i never go to work when it snows)

Thats way cool about the biking to work %. There have been times that I've wondered if it was worth it....sitting in the bike lane, next to all the idling cars, just off the freeway. Some times the polution levels are enough to cause me to choke. On the other hand, I'm not sure that sitting in a car offers that much more protection.

In fact its been studied and the outcome was that in your car you are actually getting more of that exhaust than the person who is on the bike, even though they are outside.