Abstract
The assessment and promotion of childrens’ healthful physical activity is important: (i) to combat the international obesity epidemic that extends to childhood; and (ii) to establish an early habit of lifestyle physical activity that can be sustained into adolescence and adulthood. The primary focus of both assessment and promotion efforts has been on in-school physical education classes and, to a lesser extent, out-of-school structured exercise, sport and play. A potential source of continuous moderate activity, active commuting to school by means of walking or by bicycle, has been largely ignored in surveys of physical activity. Suggestive evidence of steep declines in the amount of childrens’ destination walking can be gleaned from national transportation surveys. At the same time, there has been a dramatic increase in the reported use of motorised vehicles, including the use for chauffeuring children. There is very little evidence to support or refute active commuting to school as an important source of childrens’ physical activity; however, this is largely because it has been overlooked in the stampede to assess time in more vigorous activities.
The promotion of active commuting to school must be considered in the context of parents’ real and perceived concerns for their children’s personal and pedestrian safety. We certainly do not have a full understanding at this time of all the factors related to decisions about transportation mode, whether by child, parent, community, or school. Such information is necessary if successful and sustainable interventions can be implemented, important transport policy decisions can be made, and community and school designs can be modified. Practice rarely waits for research, however, and there are numerous examples of innovative programming, policies and environmental designs occurring internationally that can serve as natural experiments for enterprising researchers willing to push the envelope of our understanding of active commuting and childrens’ physical activity. Since we know so little, there is much to learn.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Biddle S, Cavill N, Sallis J. Policy framework for young people and health-enhancing physical activity. In: Biddle S, Cavill N, Sallis J, editors. Young and active. London: Health Education Authority, 1998
Troiano RP, Flegal KM, Kuczmarski RS. Overweight prevalence and trends for children and adolescents. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 1995; 149: 1085–91
Wang Y, Monteiro C, Popkin BM. Obesity trends in older children and adolescents. Am J Clin Nutr. In press
Dollman J, Olds T, Norton K, et al. The evolution of fitness and fatness in 10–11 year old Australian schoolchildren: changes in distributional characteristics between 1985 and 1997. Pediatr Exp Sci 1999; 11 (2): 108–21
Mamalakis G, Kafatos A, Manios Y, et al. Obesity indices in a cohort of primary school children in Crete: a six year prospective study. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 2000; 24 (6): 765–71
Sallis J, McKenzie TL. Physical education’s role in public health. Res Q Exerc Sport 1991; 62: 124–37
Simons-Morton BG, Taylor WC, Snider SA, et al. The physical activity of fifth-grade students during physical education classes. Am J Public Health 1993; 83 (2): 262–4
Welk GJ, Corbin CB, Dale D. Measurement issues in the assessment of physical activity in children. Res Q Exerc Sport 2000; 71 Suppl. 2: 59–73
Hillman M, editor. Children, transport, and the quality of life. London: Policies Studies Institute, 1993
Sleap M, Warburton P. Are primary school children gaining heart health benefits from their journeys to school? Child Care Health Dev 1993; 19: 99–108
US Department of Transportation. Proceedings from the Nationwide Personal Transporation Survey Symposium; 1997 Oct 29–31; Bethesda (MD). Bethesda (MD): Federal Highway Administration, 1999
McCann B, DeLille B. Mean streets 2000: pedestrian safety, health and federal transportation spending. Columbia (SC): Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2000
Andersen LB, Schnohr P, Schroll M, et al. All-cause mortality associated with physical activity during leisure time, work, sports, and cycling to work. Arch Intern Med 2000; 160: 1621–8
Hayashi T, Tsumura K, Suematsu C, et al. Walking to work and the risk for hypertension in men: the Osaka health survey. Ann Intern Med 1999; 130: 21–6
Vuori IM, Oja P, Paronen O. Physically active commuting to work: testing its potential for exercise promotion. Med Sci Sports Exerc 1994; 26 (7): 844–50
Oja P, Vuori I, Paronen O. Daily walking and cycling to work: their utility as health-enhancing physical activity. Patient Educ Couns 1998; 33 Suppl. 1: S87–94
Morris JN, Hardman AE. Walking to health. Sports Med 1997; 5: 306–33
Blair S, Clark D, Cureon K, et al. Exercise and fitness in childhood: implications for a lifetime of health. In: Gisolfi C, Lamb D, editors. Perspectives in exercise science and sports medicine: youth, exercise and sport. Indianapolis (IN): Benchmark Press, 1988: 401–30
Stucky-Ropp R, DiLorenzo T. Determinants of exercise in children. Prev Med 1993; 22: 880–9
Roberts I. Children and sport: walking to school as future benefits [letter]. BMJ 1996; 312: 1229
Raitakari OT, Porkka KVK, Taimela S, et al. Effects of persistent physical activity and inactivity on coronary risk factors in children and young adults. Am J Epidemiol 1994; 140 (3): 195–205
Anderson RE, Crespo CJ, Bartlett SJ, et al. Relationship of physical activity and television watching with body weight and level of fatness among children: results from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. JAMA 1998; 279 (12): 938–42
Dietz WH, Gortmaker SL. Do we fatten our children at the television set? Obesity and television viewing in children and adolescents. Pediatrics 1985; 75: 807–12
Gortmaker SL, Peterson K, Wiecha J, et al. Reducing obesity via a school-based interdisciplinary intervention among youth: planet health. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 1999; 153 (4): 409–18
Robinson TN. Reducing children’s television viewing to prevent obesity: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA 1999; 282: 1561–7
Sallis JF, Prochaska JJ, Taylor WC. A review of correlates of physical activity of children and adolescents. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2000; 32 (5): 963–75
Lee T, Rowe N. Parents’ and children’s perceived risks of the journey to school. Architect Behav 1994; 10 (4): 379–89
US Department of Health and Human Services. Healthy people 2010: Conference Edition. Washingon (DC): US Department of Health and Human Services, 2000
Go For Green. How to organize a walking/cycling school bus. 1st ed. Ottawa (ON): Go For Green, 1999
Acknowledgements
The authors are indebted to the continued support of the Scientific Affairs Division of Mars, Inc. and the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) [R01-HD30880 and R01-HD38700] in the preparation of this manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Tudor-Locke, C., Ainsworth, B.E. & Popkin, B.M. Active Commuting to School. Sports Med 31, 309–313 (2001). https://doi.org/10.2165/00007256-200131050-00001
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2165/00007256-200131050-00001