Users of public transport in Ile-de-France do nearly half an hour of physical activity per day, which is the WHO recommendation.
You may not be aware of public transport, but you are great sportsmen. Your discipline is certainly not recognized at the Olympic Games, but science awards you a medal. Inserm publishes the results of a study conducted with STIF, which manages public transport in Ile-de-France, in a communicated with the flattering title: “Ile-de-France + public transport = Champions of daily physical activity”.
The objective of the study in question was to measure the physical activity linked to the daily trips of the inhabitants of the capital and its suburbs. In fact, if the bicycle remains the means of transport that generates the most physical activity, it remains very little practiced by the Ile-de-France community: among them, only 2% of people use it.
180 kcal burned
On the other hand, nearly 30% of Ile-de-France residents use public transport on a daily basis. According to the authors, this generates on average among this population 27 minutes of physical activity per day, an expenditure of 180 kcal. We are thus approaching the recommendations of the WHO which recommends 30 minutes of daily physical activity.
“We tend to forget it, but travelers who use the bus, metro, tram, train, RER (or a combination of these modes during the same trip) usually make part of the trip to foot ”, underline the authors in the Inserm press release.
On average, public transport trips even generate more daily physical activity for their users than trips made only on foot, observe the authors. In fact, walkers achieve an average of 16 minutes of physical activity per day during these trips, or 103 Kcal.
Individual transport: 16 minutes
As for users of individual motorized modes of transport (car, motorized two-wheeler, taxi, etc.), their daily trips generate very moderate physical activity, estimated at 16 minutes per day, or 58 Kcal.
It is Parisians who spend the most in their daily journeys. “Because they are the ones who move the most and use alternative modes of transport the most, Parisians turn out to be the most active with 29 minutes of physical activity performed each day during their travels” , specify the researchers.
Indeed, 30% of their trips are made by public transport and more than half on foot, specify the authors. Ile-de-France residents of the inner and outer suburbs respectively perform 22 minutes and 18 minutes of physical activity during their daily journeys.
“The fight against this sedentary lifestyle is today a real challenge for society and public health,” writes Inserm. Sedentary lifestyle is also considered by the WHO as the 4th risk factor for mortality worldwide ”. Promoting the use of public transport is therefore a simple and accessible way to encourage populations to become champions of physical activity.
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