Getting on your bike helps you live longer

Commuters who get on their bikes could dramatically reduce their risk of developing cancer and heart disease, according to a major study.

People who cycle to work were 45 per cent less likely to develop cancer and 46 per cent less likely to suffer heart disease than those who drove or took public transport.

The risk of premature death from any cause also dropped by a staggering 41 per cent for regular cyclists.

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Experts at the University of Glasgow spent five years tracking the health of more than 250,000 people.

The study – one of the largest of its kind – also found walking to work carried health benefits, slashing the risk of dying from heart disease by 36 per cent. This advantage, however, applied mostly to people walking more than six miles per week, and walkers did not appear to benefit from any reduced risk of developing cancer or dying prematurely.

Despite the comparative health benefits of cycling, "just four per cent of adults cycle to work each day, around two million people", reports the Daily Telegraph.

Hoping that this will change in light of the recent findings, Dr Jason Gill, one of the researchers, advocated a "change in our infrastructure to make it easier to cycle to work".

"We need bike lanes, to make it easier to put bikes on trains, to get showers at work", he told the BBC.

His views are echoed by Professor Lars Bo Andersen in an editorial published in the British Medical Journal. "The UK has neglected to build infrastructure to promote cycling for decades," writes Andersen, who suggests we follow in the footsteps of bike-friendly cities like Copenhagen, where "no car or bus can travel faster than a bike", the latter of which is the preferred mode of transport for over "40 per cent of all commuter trips".

In addition to reducing the risk of cancer and heart disease, "a shift from car to more active modes of travel will also decrease traffic in congested city centres and help to reduce air pollution, with further benefits for health", he added.