Eco Matters: Active travel – it's cheaper than the gym – Maidenhead Advertiser

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Madeleine Evans
06:00AM, Saturday 10 February 2024
As that golden period of fierce commitment to all of our (ambitious) new year’s resolutions draws to a close, and that swanky new gym membership sees less use, you might be looking for ways to keep moving more sustainably.
Active travel checks all the boxes, and then some.
Walking, wheeling, or cycling may be less convenient than hopping in the car, but it might just be the key to making us our happiest, healthiest selves.
I don’t think I need to preach the benefits of exercising here – we all know that, beyond how we look, regular workouts improve our brain and heart health and help us live longer.
But did you know that these results can be seen after exercising at relatively low levels of intensity?
Regularly walking or biking can be enough to improve your long-term health significantly. What a great excuse to skip that HIIT class.
Active travel can give your mental health a boost, too.
Studies have shown that going on daily walks can improve self-esteem, as well as reduce depression and stress.
Plus, exercising outdoors not only provides opportunity to get some much-needed vitamin D, it also makes a routine easier to stick to, especially if it’s included in your daily commute.
Getting out and about helps you connect to your community, and to nature.
Which brings us to the fantastic environmental benefits of us all travelling a bit more actively.
It’s cheap, it’s easy to do, and it reduces petrol consumption, air pollution, and road traffic.
What more could we want?
Improving our cycle and footpath network also provides space for nature to thrive, something which Sustrans – the charity custodian of the National Cycle Network, more than 12,000 miles worth of paths across the UK – is committed to.
Get info on their work, routes in your area and ways to get involved at sustrans.org.uk.
More locally, too, Cycle Hub in Windsor and Maidenhead are charities which are tackling the barriers to cycling, to help get you on your bike.
They provide bike maintenance services and workshops, sell refurbished equipment at low prices, and have created a friendly community of cyclists for tips and advice.
Visit cyclehub.org.uk or step into Maidenhead Cycle Hub’s HQ in the Nicholson’s Centre for more information.
And if all this fails to convince, maybe just try it because it’s cheaper than the gym.
The Eco Matters Column is a community-led project run by local volunteers. Views expressed are the contributor’s own. For information or to contribute to the column contact Andrew Ingram on ecomatters.today@gmail.com
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