People who cycle to work have a higher life expectancy and are more likely to avoid major illnesses such as heart disease and cancer, new research has found.
The research, the largest of its kind, involved 82,000 people aged 16 to 74 who provided information about how they got to work for the Scottish census. They were followed up between 2001 and 2018 to monitor any hospital admissions, drug prescriptions or deaths.
The study was published in the medical journal BMJ Public Health, and was led by academics at the University of Glasgow.
Although there were major health benefits overall it was also found that cyclists were twice as likely to be admitted to hospital after a road traffic collision as people who drove or took the train to work.
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Those who commuted by bike had a 47% lower risk of death from any cause, a 51% lower risk of dying from cancer and a 24% lower likelihood of requiring treatment for heart disease.
Mental health was also seen to improve by cycling regularly with a significantly lower use of antidepressants among cyclists than among more sedentary commuters.
There were 1,363 cyclists in the study, most of whom travelled fewer than three miles each way to work. But there were risks, too, among the health benefits: during the follow-up period of nearly two decades, about 83 of these cyclists were admitted to hospital following a traffic accident. The report authors said: “Our finding that cyclist commuters have twice the risk of being a road traffic casualty compared with non-active commuters reinforces the need for safer cycling infrastructure.”
They added that their findings were “direct evidence of the health benefits of active commuting”, which supports policy efforts to encourage people to cycle to work. The report concluded: “That cyclist and pedestrian commuting is associated with lower risks of being prescribed medication for poor mental health is an important finding.
“This study has wider global relevance to efforts to reduce carbon emissions and to shift to more active and sustainable travel modes.”
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According to government statistics, less than 5% of people cycle to work. About one in 10 walk, 68% of people use a car, 9% take the train and 6% take the bus.
The Covid pandemic saw an increase in cycling, but the return of heavy traffic to roads during cycling fell a couple of percentage points, while still being up on levels before 2020.
