health right now

FROM THE HEART DOC

Bicycles Win the Race

Dr VIKAS SAINI is a
clinical cardiologist and researcher at Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health. He is president of the Lown Cardiovascular Research Foundation in Boston. Write to him at vikas.s@preventionindia. com

How cycling benefits your health and saves the planet.

here is a common observation about how wonderfully India has passed directly to mobile phones, and skipped the buildout of a landline infrastructure. Could we take similar shortcuts to other difficult aspects of development? The prevention of heart disease through such a strategy poses an immense challenge. Why? The fundamental driver of heart disease is the way a developed society organises central aspects of life. Heart disease, in There are cycling any population, organisations and follows from 1) the producclubs throughout tion, distribution India. All of them have and consumpmotivated members tion of food; and can provide infor2) the organisation of time; mation about cycling 3) the design of in your city. our living, working and leisure space; and

4) methods of transport. One of my fondest memories of a summer vacation in India is of riding a bicycle from the town of Hoshiarpur to visit a village with a stately mango orchard. We got caught in a delightfully warm monsoon shower on our return home, which only added to the pleasure.

market for grocery. I find that my travel time from home to office is about 20 to 25 minutes by car, while biking at that same hour takes about 35 minutes. In my calculation, this means I get 35 minutes of exercise for 10 minutes of extra time spent. What a bargain!

The Road Forward

The safety of bicycling will become a big concern in India as vehicular traffic increases. But safety issues can be addressed. Denmark and Netherlands have high bike usage but low cycling fatalities. The key is urban planning and urban redesign. While there are many pro-bicycling traffic and landscape designs for cities around the world, the best approach is to build separate cycle tracks that protect cyclists from fast moving traffic and its pollution. And what better time to build bicycle lanes than at the beginning of a national roadbuilding campaign? Im sure there is no bicycle lobby as such in the halls of Parliament.

Health Benefits
Studies consistently confirm the health benefits of biking. The combination of aerobic and resistance training that cycling entails is particularly good for insulin sensitivity. Women who bike control obesity and weight more easily. Bicycling is associated with lower mortality. If carving out time for exercise from your busy schedule is an issue, use a bicycle for your daily commute to work or to the

Most architects and urban planners have their hands full with the basics of city building. But here is another historical moment when leapfrogging past other countries is possible. Why shouldnt the designers of roads and public spaces seek the considerable common ground between economic health and public health? How can India maintain the presence and value of bicycle culture before the entire populace of its cities, forgets? City planners need to be encouraged by thoughtful Indians to work toward preserving the humble bicycles place in society. We need a social movement, but what we really need is a creative consensus that makes bicycling sexy and fashionableor, at the very least, equalises its prestige value with those big cars sitting in traffic that cyclists can pass on the way to work. In the end, the real task is to forge completely new ideas about living, working and moving that do not borrow from the West, but supersede it.

TOP: PHOTOGRAPH BY: BENN GROVER, EDITOR PROCOR.

Dr Vikas Saini biking for health

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JULY 2012 PREVENTION

PREVENTION JULY 2012

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