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Walk to good health

TEENAGERS who walk to and from school may get more exercise throughout the day, including during school hours - than those who travel to and from school by car, bus or train, say a team of Scottish researchers.

"We are unlikely to be `helping' people by chauffeuring them everywhere they need to go," said Dr. Leslie M. Alexander, of Edinburgh University. Previous researchers found that walking to school affects overall physical activity among 10-year-old children also, but adolescents are known to be less active than their younger peers.

To determine the impact of walking to school among adolescents, Alexander and co-authors fitted students aged 13-14 years with accelerometers to measure activity. At the end of the up to 10-day study period, students who walked to and from school were the most physically active overall, the researchers report in the online edition of the British Medical Journal. And, Alexander added, "there are likely to be other benefits from walking, such as opportunities to explore one's environment, be alone or socialise, a chance to unwind or have a think, and the health-related risks from traffic would be far less if more people walked or cycled."

Reuters

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