Health risks of car commuting

[il padrone]

A different outlook on the mental health risks resulting from car commuting. Wonder how the same test done on a cyclist would fair ?

[hannos]

Somehow those results don't surprise me.

[sogood]

Stress is more than just HR and skin conductance...

[il padrone]

Yes, when I'm cycling happily to work I'm sweating qute a bit and my HR is high (I'd guess - no HR monitor). Yet after these rides I feel very de-stressed

[DrJay]

Stress is more than just HR and skin conductance...

I'll buy that.

I just tend to ask people...

He then draws some pretty long conclusions from that.

Still, I prefer when I can bike commute. Gotta love those endorphins!

[elStado]

There's been quite a lot of research into the health impacts of a car culture, most research found that the longer and more often a person spent in a vehicle the more likely they were to experience mental (depression, isolation, stress etc) and physical (obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular etc) health problems.

In comparison, people who spent more time riding or walking and less time in a car, especially those in cycle-friendly countries such as Holland, were found to generally be healthier and happier.

I'll see if I can track down the document, but that's the general gist of it anyway. Bottom line is the more people walking taking PT or cycling the better off we all are.

Not sure if this was the one, I read a bunch of them for an assignment last year:
http://www.bmj.com/content/318/7199/1686.extract

There's also factors to count such as social health, as cycling and walking creates passive security and surveillance, which, in turn, means crime is indirectly lowered and people feel safer due to more people being around.