Study finds people who bike to work take fewer sick days
Photo: sturti/gettyimages
Helsinki — People who are able to ride a bicycle to work may lower the number of days they call off sick, as well as their risk of long-term sickness-related absences, according to a new study from the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health.
Researchers looked at data for more than 28,000 workers, analyzing their degree of active commuting to work – which also included walking – as well as employer data on employee sick days.
They found that, compared with workers who drove or used public transportation for their commute, the people who “most actively” biked to work – meaning they covered at least 18.6 miles a week – were 8%-12% less likely to call out sick. They also averaged 4.5 fewer sick days a year and had an 18% lower risk of experiencing long-term sick-related absences (at least 10 days).
In a press release, Jenni Ervasti, study co-author and chief researcher at the institute, said the findings “provide additional reasons to encourage and invest in an active commuting style, and especially commuting by bike.”
The study was published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports.
Post a comment to this article
Safety+Health welcomes comments that promote respectful dialogue. Please stay on topic. Comments that contain personal attacks, profanity or abusive language – or those aggressively promoting products or services – will be removed. We reserve the right to determine which comments violate our comment policy. (Anonymous comments are welcome; merely skip the “name” field in the comment box. An email address is required but will not be included with your comment.)