The road less travelled

Fewer Australian children walking or cycling to school today than ever before, according to this report. ACTIVE TRANSPORT – WHAT? HOW? AND WHY? When moving from place to place, people can get to where they are going using either passive transport (e.g. driving or being driven in a car), public transport (e.g. bus, train or tram) or active transport (e.g. walking, cycling, skateboard, scooter etc.). Active transport is one of the key behaviours that contributes to the overall physical activity levels of Australia’s children and young people; it involves little to no financial cost and can be easily incorporated into daily schedules with minimal forward planning. Benefits of active transport How much bang for your buck does active transport really provide? Other physical activity behaviours, such as organised sport participation or active play, tend to be more readily associated with kids ‘huffing and puffing’ as they move around. Some may question whether active transport meaningfully contributes to a child’s daily accumulation of moderate-to-vigorous-intensity physical activity (MVPA). Children who use active transport to get to or from school are not only more physically active than those who do not but, also accumulate more daily minutes of health enhancing activity (i.e. MVPA), take more steps, expend more energy over the day and generally have better health-related fitness. Research in Canada showed that secondary school students who walked to school (either all of the way or as part of a trip using public transport) accumulated a substantial amount of MVPA across the total walking time (average walk trip duration of 12.6±6.5 minutes and average minutes per trip of MVPA 9.4±4.4 minutes). Studies conducted in the UK, found that school children accumulated anywhere from 5-6 minutes (age 11) to 10-11 minutes (ages 11-12) of MVPA during school-travel windows. These represent meaningful contributions of MVPA (8-18% of recommended daily MVPA) to a child’s daily physical activity total. Australian physical activity guidelines recommend that children accumulate at least 60 minutes of MVPA each day. Children and young people who are active on a daily basis are less likely to be overweight or obese, at reduced risk of developing conditions such as Type II diabetes and metabolic syndrome, and more likely to see improvements in aerobic fitness and bone health and experience positive mental health benefits. In addition to the general health benefits and contributions towards daily physical activity, active transport participation specifically promotes social connectedness, a sense of independence, and can improve a child’s spatial awareness and knowledge regarding road rules and safety. Beyond the individual-level, active transport can create safer neighbourhoods by diffusing traffic congestion and reducing air pollution levels which could lead to numerous environmental benefits. &nbsp