Opinion - News Analysis   

Walking to school

Nicholas Bakalar- New York Times News Service

Walkers have been found to be more active than those who come by car, bus or train.

WALKING TO school may be the cure for teenage couch potatoes. A Scottish study demonstrates that the walkers are more active during the rest of the day than their peers who arrive by car, bus or train.

Why walking to school encourages greater physical activity is not clear, but the authors speculate that a morning walk may stimulate further social interaction and lead to more exercise.

They said that similar results had been found for 10-year-olds, but that walking to school made no difference in the physical activity level of five-year-olds.

The researchers recruited 13- and 14-year-olds from four schools near Edinburgh, giving each an instrument that records the time and distance of vertical movement. They were asked to wear the devices all day except while bathing or swimming.

The results were published online by British Medical Journal on August 16.

By every measurement, the teenagers who walked to school exercised more than those who rode.

Those who walked both to and from school got 25 per cent more exercise than riders over the entire weekday, 8.9 per cent more during school hours, 4.2 per cent more while on morning break, 18.4 per cent more during lunch break and 17 per cent more exercise outside school.

The teenagers who walked one way had increases over the riders that were almost as great.

Turning down a lift to school may have other advantages, said Joanna Inchley, a research fellow at the University of Edinburgh and co-author of the study. "Obviously cutting down on car travel has much broader environmental and safety benefits as well as the health benefits for children," she said.

Driving the teenagers to soccer practice may not be enough, Ms. Inchley said. "Parents need the support of schools and community groups to provide a range of age-appropriate opportunities for children and adolescents to be active. It's not just about team-based sports."

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

No room for complacency
Celebrate 250+ and counting
Vanishing equity in higher education
India's economic opportunities and perils
Walking to school
The myth of "feminisation"
How the G8 lied to the world on aid
GM rice — top of the crops
Lahoti's reaction
Elusive consensus
Breach of privilege
Welcome move
A satisfying job

Copyright © 2005, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu