People are significantly fatter in countries, states, and cities where car use is more common. Mass transit use, on the other hand, is correlated with lower obesity. But there has been scant evidence that public transportation actually causes widespread weight loss — until now. A study of residents in Charlotte, N.C., found that users of the city’s new light rail system were 81 percent less likely to become obese, and reduced their Body Mass Index by an average 1.18 points — the equivalent of 6.45 pounds for a person 5’5″ tall. The study appears in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. [%comments]
Does Driving Cause Obesity?
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For me there was a definite link between car and obesity. I live in car optional New York City. When I got a car I gained a good deal of weight. When I got rid of my car I lost the weight without too much difficulty. (Even so it is much easier to put on it on than take it off.)
Noticing this weight change and finally making the connection to the car not too long ago, I tried to figure out what I was doing differently when I had a car. I discovered that not only did I walk less when I had a car, but I carried less too. Without a car I carry heavy bags home from stores and from work, regularly walking several blocks with 20 pounds of stuff makes a big difference.
Brett (#4) -
I’ll ask the government to stop worrying about your weight when I don’t have to pay Medicare to give you dialysis when you are older, and I’ll ask the government to not worry about your transportation when I don’t have to breath the exhaust from your car, or pay for wars to secure the oil supply that powers it.
In other words, when your habits stop affecting me, it is no longer a concern of the government’s!
J.Ja
@kevin
I snack more because my commute is longer. The mile walk to the train station? It includes all your favorite fast food joints as it is a walk through the Loop. The train station? Fast Food Nation. Even if I avoid all that, I am usually famished by the time I get home. And yes, one can bring a healthy snack for the train (as I’ve come to do), but its knowing that I leave the office at 5:10pm, but get home at 7pm – and will quickly try to throw together a healthy meal, but in reality, its easier to pick up something on the drive home from the train station.
Mass transit is only really in urban areas.
Obesity is more prevalent in rural areas.
Mass transit isn’t going to help curb it.
I worked in Manhattan for 20 years and had a brisk one mile walk twice a day from Port Authority to my office. Took a job in suburban NJ and walked a couple hundred feet from parking lot to office. I gained 10 pounds in 2 months. In addition, the time of my commute was about the same for both, about 1:15 – 1:30 each way. But I exchanged a usually relaxing bus ride where I could read and snooze for bumper to bumper traffic at 70 mph on Garden State Parkway and NJ Turnpike. The stress and exhaustion factors wore me down until I relocated closer to work.
I wonder if anyone has looked at the correlation of weight gain/loss with the likelihood of getting a seat?
I was definitely thinner when I had to take the subway at rush hour and stand vs now where I’m on MetroNorth and almost always get a seat.
The next question is: what’s different between people who drive and people who use public transport? A supplementary question is: what’s changed for people who drive, bearing in mind that people drove long before the obesity epidemic started?
One thing, perhaps, is that car parks are closer together than stations, and in particular with the rise in out-of-town shopping, the car parks are within a few yards of the final destination. Perhaps it’s really a question of town planning, and having shops in the town centre and not many car parks as in the “good old days” was better for us.
Then again, people who think better town planning is a good way to improve the human condition have a habit of being mistaken…..
Ironically many people drive 10 miles each way to their Health Club/ Gym so they could workout for 20 minutes. And they still fail to lose any weight.
If they would walk 10 miles a day, they could save on fuel costs and the health club fees, and lose some substantial weight……I GUARANTEE OR DOUBLE YOUR MONEY BACK!