How to make your commute healthier
Whether it's cycling or running to work, or simply trying to walk for part of the journey, your commute provides a great opportunity to improve health and fitness
Spending most of your day at work can mean that fitting in exercise is a challenge. That’s why converting your daily commute into a daily workout is a great solution. Here’s how to do it.
Walking
The average adult walks at a pace of around three miles an hour, so you’ll cover a mile in about 20 minutes. If you get the bus to work, think about getting on a stop or two after you normally would – or getting off a stop or two before your destination.
Similarly, if you drive, work out if it might be feasible to park slightly further away from your workplace so you can get a bit of power walking in at the beginning and end of the day. In slow-moving city traffic, you could actually find it’s quicker to walk than it is to sit in a jam, waiting for the traffic lights to change.
And, if you’re a bus user, you can see just how much time you’re saving – and how quickly you need to walk. The UK Bus Checker app costs £2.99 and gives you instant, up-to-date information about bus arrival times, wherever you are in the UK, so you’ll be able to see how much time you’ve got to get to where you need to go, and whether you can beat the bus.
Even if you’re not able to add extra walking into your commute, make a commitment to walking where you can – that means walking up escalators, rather than standing on the right, going for a walk around the block during your lunch break, taking the stairs instead of the lift. They may be little changes, but they all add up.
Cycling
If your current route to work is on four wheels in traffic, you could halve the time you spend commuting by hopping on your bike, and save yourself money.
If you don’t already have a bike, no problem. Thanks to a government scheme promoting cycling to work, you can buy one at a reduced price, and have the cost deducted from your salary over a year – see cyclescheme.co.uk for more details, where you’ll also find some compelling arguments for cycling.
For example, did you know that if you cycle nine miles to work and back, five days a week, your average commute will probably take you around an hour, and, in a week, you’ll burn around 4205 calories? That's equivalent to about 10 and a half hours in the gym. Moreover, by not using the car, over the course of a year you’re also saving about 321kg of carbon dioxide.
And if you haven’t got access to showers at work, don’t panic, you don’t have to be a lycra-clad demon working up a sweat. At cyclestreets.net you can plan your journey according to the pace you want to go at. It will also show you the quietest route, and tell you how many traffic lights are on the route.
Running
Running to work isn’t always practical. For a start, not all workplaces will provide shower facilities. If yours doesn’t, consider if there’s a gym nearby that you might be able to join. Many will offer discounted corporate memberships to those who work in the local area, so it’s worth investigating.
But even if you can’t run to work, you can probably run some – or all – of the way home. Although it will take a bit of planning – jogging home with your laptop will make things harder, even if it’s in a backpack – and don’t pick a day when you have an off-site client meeting the following morning, unless you’ve got more than one pair of good work shoes.
But, once you’ve thought it through, a run home can be a great way to get rid of the stress of the day – especially if your route can take you home via a park. How fast you can run obviously depends on your fitness, but your average jogger will take under 13 minutes to cover a mile.
According to research from the National Travel Survey, the average commute in rural areas is 11.7 miles, in metropolitan areas outside London it’s around 6.9 miles, while the average Londoner travels 7.5 miles to work. And while nobody’s going to be able to run seven to 10 miles without training, most of us could probably work up to it, with a little time and perseverance.
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