People Who Cycle to Work Take Fewer Sick Days. But Why?

From ScienceAlert.com

By DAVID NIELD

Here’s one more reason to think about cycling to work: a new study has found people who commute by bicycle tend to have fewer days off sick and a reduced risk of long-term absences due to illness.

The study, led by a team from the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, analyzed self-reported data from 28,485 local government workers across the course of a year, with most of the participants followed up for a second year too.

Compared to passive commuting – by car or by public transport – cycling 61 kilometers (38 miles) or more per week was linked to 8-12 percent less risk of taking days off ill and 18 percent lower chance of being absent for at least 10 days due to sickness. On average, the most active commuters had 4.5 fewer sick days than passive commuters, and one fewer long sickness period per decade

Photo by Tomek Baginski on Unsplash

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