Health benefits of cycling far outweigh its downsides

Datum vydání: 24.08.2016

The first article of our special section devoted to more general and profound issues of cycling zooms in on to the health implications of cycling.

Health benefits of increased physical activity induced by pedalling are much more robust than the impacts of brief inhalation of the polluted air or higher exposure to the risk of accident (Cavill and Davis, 2007, De Hartog et al., 2010, Götschi et al., 2015). Cycling reduces the risk of getting certain types of diabetes, falling ill of cancer, having weight issues (Cavill and Davis, 2007), and it may also improve cognitive functions and prevent outbreak of depression (Götschi et al., 2015).

As for diabetes, there is indeed an evidence that both commuter and recreational cycling could be traced to lowering risk of diabetes by improving glucose metabolism. According to a study (Rasmussen et al., 2016) the risk falls down proportionally to the load of time a person spends by cycling. The more, the better chances of avoiding diabetes. Interestingly, there is a better odds to stay healthy when cycling consistently throughout the year than only during a certain period of year, no matter how intensively. The same study also cautions against quitting cycling as the record of previously ridden kilometres ensures no decreased risk compared to continuation of cycling.
Further benefits of cycling include getting fresh air, reduced noise pollution and on the societal scale even the improved air quality because of the reduced number of car drivers who would change cars for bicycles (Cavill and Davis, 2007, De Hartog et al., 2010). Importantly, cycling evokes equality. There is no need to be well-off to ride a bike which is in contrast to some other more prominent sports.

But cycling is still constrained by lots of safety issues. It has been even proven (Garrard et al., 2008) that women in general are less prone to cycle under disturbing circumstances such as high traffic and missing designated bike lanes. This results in much lower number of women cyclists.

It is a fact, that cycling has not been equally prioritized and promoted through transport and health policies. The articulation of health merits seems to be a key to persuade more people to start riding a bike, but the process is always going to be impeded until more safety for cyclists is arranged (Götschi et al., 2015, Pucher and Buehler, 2010).

That could be achieved via e.g. providing bike parking ; establishing car-free city centres and traffic calming ; designing public transport integration plans and, naturally, constructing kilometres and kilometres of separated bike lanes.

List of references:
Cavill, N. and Davis, A. (2007). Cycling and health - what's the evidence?. [online] The National Academies of Sciences, Academies, Medicine. Available at: https://trid.trb.org/view.aspx?id=850522#ju [Accessed 11 Aug. 2016].
De Hartog, J., Boogaard, H., Nijland, H. and Hoek, G. (2010). Do the Health Benefits of Cycling Outweigh the Risks?. Environmental Health Perspectives, 118(8), pp.1109-1116.
Garrard, J., Rose, G. and Lo, S. (2008). Promoting transportation cycling for women: The role of bicycle infrastructure. Preventive Medicine, 46(1), pp.55-59.
Götschi, T., Garrard, J. and Giles-Corti, B. (2015). Cycling as a Part of Daily Life: A Review of Health Perspectives. Transport Reviews, 36(1), pp.45-71.
Pucher, J. and Buehler, R. (2010). Walking and Cycling for Healthy Cities. Built environment, 36(4), pp.391-414.
Rasmussen, M., Grøntved, A., Blond, K., Overvad, K., Tjønneland, A., Jensen, M. and Østergaard, L. (2016). Associations between Recreational and Commuter Cycling, Changes in Cycling, and Type 2 Diabetes Risk: A Cohort Study of Danish Men and Women. PLoS Med, 13(7), p.e1002076.

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