If you've heard about the importance of exercise once,you've heard it a million times-and the beauty of commuter biking is that you can get al least the recommended amount of physical activity for fitness without ever setting foot in a gym.in fact,bike commuting burns an average of 42 calories per mile or 7 calories per minute,enough to improve your health and slim your hips,even if you take multiple short trips rather commute short trips rather than commute 15 miles or more to work.and,after each bike trip your metabolism may stay slightly elev anted for up to several hours,notes Barry Franklin,Ph.D.director of Preventive cardiology and rehabilitation for william Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak,Mich.
Indeed,countries with the highest levels of active transportation bicycling to pucher's of Ducth residents are obese,compared with 34 percentin the United States.
But the Health benefits aren't just physical."People have improved focus at work,better mental acuity as a result of commuting by bike"says andy Duvall,a doctoral student at the University of Colorado,Denver,who,through a grant from the National Science Foundation,has surveyed 1,200 users of Denver B-cycle-the country's first large-scale municipal bike-sharing Program,Commuting by car,on the other hand,can equal stress,exhaustion,sleep disturbance,even absence from work due to illness,several studies suggest
