Kids who walk, thrive

A new study published in the recent issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine has shown that children who walk or bike to school are more active throughout the day than those who travel to school by car.

Researcher Niels Wedderkopp said that the study supports policies that promote walk-to-school programs as a way to boost children’s physical activity. The study followed 332 Danish school children who wore accelerometers to record their minute-by-minute activity. The researchers compared the activity levels of walkers and bicycle riders with children who travelled to school by car or bus.

Boys who walked or traveled to school by bicycle were significantly more active than those who traveled by car. The same held true for girls who walked versus car riders, but not for girls who cycled, whose activity level during the day was similar to that of car riders. — ANI

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