How Using Public Transport Makes You Healthy?
How Using Public Transport Makes You Healthy?
Whether you’re a student or an employee, you must have used public transport at some point in time, unless of course, you have the luxury of using your own private transport. The question is, should you use public transport even if you can afford private transport and the answer is, ‘yes, yes, and yes!’
Public transport offers many benefits including economic, health, environmental and financial benefits. It helps you save money as it is much cheaper, improves the economy by creating more jobs for the locals, protects the environment by reducing the carbon footprint, and is safer as there’s a low risk of accidents. While there are a number of reasons why you should use public transport, we will only discuss the ones related to your health.
Promotes Physical Activity
In today’s fast-paced world, people don’t have time to follow a workout or even go for a 30 minutes-walk, despite knowing the importance of physical activity. A study conducted by Mayo Clinic concluded that people who sit for more than 8 hours a day had a risk of dying similar to the risks of dying posed by smoking and obesity. According to the American Heart Association, sedentary jobs have increased by 83%. A normal office worker in America sits for about 15 hours a day. Where does that leave us?
If you use public transport, you can incorporate physical activity in your every day life without even trying. It’s not like you step outside of your house and have the public bus at your doorstep. You have to walk all the way to the bus stop to get to the bus. While this may sound a bit of an inconvenience, but this inconvenience can save your life.
According to the American Heart Association, people who use public transport are 44% less likely to be overweight, 27% percent less likely to have high blood pressure, and 34% percent less likely to have diabetes as compared to those who drive.
Reduces Stress
Ever had an important presentation and your alarm went off. You’re in a hurry and you step outside of your house only to find that your car has a flat tire. So, you get frustrated and call the cab and, with some luck, even find one, but end up getting stuck in traffic. You had prepared all night for this presentation and now all you can feel is nervous about it because you’re getting late. You’re angry, frustrated and anxious. How do you think that presentation will go after all the stressful emotions you have experienced just moments ago? Let me tell you, ‘Not so great’.
Now, only if you had used public transport, you might have missed one bus, but there are lots of options available when it comes to public transport. You still had a better chance of making it in time without the traffic adding to your stress and frustration.
Using public transport not only helps you stay healthy, but also helps the environment by reducing the green house emission gases. It provides us a way to avoid traffic, consequently reducing stress and frustration that arises from getting stuck in traffic for hours. It helps us incorporate physical activity in our life which makes us less susceptible to heart diseases, such as high cholesterol, heart attack, and obesity. So, ask yourself this, if not for the environmental or the economic benefits of using public transport, would you not even consider switching to public transport for your own health?
