Importance Of Active Commuting To Meeting Physical Activity Recommendations In A University Sample

Abstract

PURPOSE: To assess the importance of active commuting to meeting public health physical activity (PA) recommendations in a convenience sample of university student cyclists vs. motorists. METHODS: 50 students (52% female, 21.5±3.2 years of age) wore an Actigraph accelerometer and completed a travel log for two days. Since accelerometers do not assess non-ambulatory movement and to better understand active commuting, logged minutes of cycling was combined with accelerometer-derived moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA) to create a new variable: total MVPA. Additionally, minutes of logged walking and cycling were separately combined to create a total active commuting variable. Final outcome variables were: minutes in MVPA, steps/day, minutes in total MVPA, and minutes in total active commuting. Independent t-tests were used to compare between-group differences based on 69 days of complete accelerometer and travel log data (cyclists: 34 days vs. motorists: 35 days). RESULTS: There were no significant differences between groups with respect to gender proportion or age. Minutes in MVPA was not significantly different between groups (cyclists: 40.0±23.8 vs. motorists: 47.8±25.0 minutes). Steps/day were significantly different between groups (cyclists: 11051±4295 vs. motorists: 9174±3319; p<0.05). Total MVPA was significantly different (cyclists: 85.7±37.0 vs. motorists: 50.3±23.8 minutes; p<0.001). Total minutes active commuting was also significantly different (cyclists: 56.7±29.2 vs. motorists: 26.9±19.9 minutes; p<001). CONCLUSIONS: Based on accelerometer data, both university student groups exceeded current PA recommendations of 30 minutes MVPA on days that were monitored (means were 40 and 47 minutes for cyclists and motorists, respectively) However, adding logged time cycling to accelerometer-determined MVPA resulted in cyclists increasing their PA to 86 minutes with a negligible increase for motorists (to 50 minutes). Considering only logged walking and cycling, these cyclists accumulated 30 more minutes of PA than motorists. Although this sample of university students achieved public health guidelines regardless of commuting mode, commuting to campus by bicycle more than doubled the level of PA accumulated each day compared to those who used motorized types of transport.