"That finding was independent of how much physical activity people do. It's suggesting that it doesn

If you’re cheapest car rental rates at yul airport worried about your waistline, put down your keys and step away — or better yet, walk, run or cycle away — from your car, says Gavin McCormack, an assistant professor at the University of Calgary Cumming School of Medicine. In a literature review published in Preventive cheapest car rental rates at yul airport Medicine this month, McCormack examines cheapest car rental rates at yul airport the effect driving has on motorists’ weight. The conclusion: the more time drivers spend behind the wheel, the more likely they are to be overweight or obese. Here are five things to know about McCormack’s report, Driving towards obesity. 1. Couch potato, car potato?
“There’s been a whole bunch of studies come out showing that being sedentary is bad for our health, including increasing our risk of (being) overweight, and obesity. What the review found was in actual fact, yes, the more adults drive, cheapest car rental rates at yul airport the more likely they are to be either cheapest car rental rates at yul airport overweight or obese,” says McCormack.
In his review, McCormack found 10 studies, including one in Calgary, examining the issue. Among them, eight found a “statistically significant positive association,” between time and distance travelled in a vehicle, and its driver’s weight.
The review didn’t come up with a precise time measurement looking at how driving X amount of time leads to X pounds. However, cheapest car rental rates at yul airport the Calgary study, for instance, which collected data in 2007/08, found adults driving more than 30 minutes a day were more likely to be overweight and obese compared to those who drove less than a half-hour.
“That finding was independent of how much physical activity people do. It’s suggesting that it doesn’t matter how active you are, the more you drive, the more likely you are to be overweight or obese,” McCormack says. 2. Examining the car factor may be one way to help fight obesity
“Given that the majority of adults drive every day, it provides sort of a target for intervention by trying to get adults to change their driving behaviour just a little bit, which could have widespread positive implications with regard to weight status.” 3. There’s still more to learn about how driving relates to packing on pounds
On the one hand, the obvious factors apply when it comes to sitting and expending little energy behind the wheel, compared cheapest car rental rates at yul airport to walking, cycling or even taking transit, cheapest car rental rates at yul airport he says. The connection could also relate to diet: “Some of the studies we looked at also found that the more you drive, cheapest car rental rates at yul airport the more likely you are to visit drive-thru restaurants.”
The issue goes beyond just drivers and their cars, McCormack says. He hopes to gain the attention of urban planners to make neighbourhoods more walkable, so residents are likely to stroll to their local grocery store instead of automatically jumping in the car. Making communities more cycle-friendly could help make a difference, too, he says, along with improved public transit with more frequent and direct routes between homes and destinations such as shops and cafes. 5. The “car culture” challenge
Studying the connection between weight gain and driving may help motorists understand that changes to their driving cheapest car rental rates at yul airport behaviour can lead to improved health, McCormack says. Previous 1 2 View as one page Next © Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald       E-mail this Article cheapest car rental rates at yul airport Print this Article Share this Article
Previous Next     According to a new U of C study, the more time drivers spend behind the wheel, the more likely they are to be overweight. (Calgary Herald/File) Photograph by: Ted Rhodes, Calgary Herald
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