Study: Ditch the Bus - Walk & Bike to School Instead

Morning exercise beats the effects of even breakfast and lunch on student performance

Kids who walk or bike to school (or even skateboard, presumably) perform better once they arrive, according to new research out of Denmark.

Business Insider points us to the study making the following claim: "Children who were driven to school performed less well in a test measuring concentration levels than those who had walked or cycled."

The study, which includes a compelling sample size of nearly 20,000 students, was originally intended to examine the effects of eating breakfast and lunch on academic achievement. It instead revealed the relatively stronger effects of morning exercise.

"The exercise one uses to transport to school is reflected in the level of concentration one has circa four hours later," said researcher Niels Egelund.

Of course, the US is not Denmark, and must contend with the unique challenges of a firmly entrenched car culture. Noreen C. McDonald of the University of North Carolina notes that the number of K-12 students in the US walking or biking to school has decreased by nearly 30% since 1969, and that over 75% of school commutes are now taken up in private vehicles.

Via Business Insider.

Is it a realistic alternative for your child to walk or bike to school?

[stepped_in_it]

Didn't ride a bus when I went to school (except for the occasion field trip, maybe 2-3 times a year). For children within (maybe) 1-2 miles from school, I see no problem. I know, what about child abduction.....etc. Well, that's what weapon carrying laws are for.....(just kidding). Don't have an answer for that except for an adult walking with them (hey, don't tell me you ALL work......47% of you don't...J/K again!)

[Neo_NtheMatrix]

You're right, 47% of them don't work. They could walk with the kid to school. Some of these parents need some involvement in their child's education.

[MRMacrum]

@Neo_NtheMatrix "You're right, 47% of them don't work." You know this is wrong. So why do you keep on insisting that is right?

[stepped_in_it]

@MRMacrum Ok you two, I was just kidding about the 47%. If you two start bickering on my comment site, I will send you both to bed without supper.....NOW, be good!! LMAO

[classychazy]

@Neo_NtheMatrix OMG a statement of yours I agree with! It must be snowing in hell (if I believed in hell).(O:

[Suff]

@classychazy So you basically agree with one of his, and they all are, incorrect, ignorant replies? Real unemployment is closer to 25 - 30%, and these 30% are not the 'lazy food-stamp takers', that you see on the mainstream media. Job's are becoming more, and more difficult to find; especially when 56% of the nation is below the national-poverty line.

[Neo_NtheMatrix]

I like this idea. When I was a kid I walked to school. We didn't have to have the government educate us and pick us up from school too. Some things we could do ourselves. And we didn't need a chip to track everywhere we were. Still we turned out okay. Maybe people should go back to something cheap that could save millions of dollars for broken school systems and stressed out taxpayers.

[MRMacrum]

"Still we turned out okay."

........ Sure about that? ;)

[Neo_NtheMatrix]

@MRMacrum - I just think we've become way too dependent in this world. Maybe I'm wrong about that.

[DARSB]

"We didn't have to have the government educate us". You went to private schools?

[Keyjo]

LOL.....Grandpa Neanderthal..........
You left out the part about "five miles each way through three feet of snow!"

[FollowTheMoney]

@Keyjo Up hill both ways. ;-] LOL

[kirbstomp1]

I walk to campus and back every day instead of riding them nasty buses

[Romney2012]

Nope, thats an 8 mile walk!

[Fishbone345]

Yep. He's done it several times.

[sabbatical]

Ditch the bus, get off the bike, walk to your car and drive to school instead!

[mudzangandoro]

why not. some kids need the exercise. might just cut down on obesity.

[Suff]

Americans are naturally lazy, and thus; this will not work.

[mudzangandoro]

@Suff Nahh! don't say that about urselves!lol

[Suff]

@jzmhlanga B-but, I'm not an American?

[mudzangandoro]

@Suff Cool! I'm am not American either. I guess we are not lazy!

[Suff]

@jzmhlanga It's fun not being Americans. Let us laugh at pathetic third world Americans. Ahahahaha!

[marine1]

One consideration. we did not have all the sick-o pervert child molesters 50 years ago that we seem to have today.

[Rocker]

Well, we'd have a lot less of them if they were shot after guilt is proven.

[marine1]

@Rocker fine by me.I'll even do the shooting on a part time basis so there won't be any benifits to worry about.

[Rocker]

@marine1 - There are a few crimes that I have a zero tolerance for... that's the top one.

[marine1]

@Rocker me too. there is NO excuse

[Keyjo]

I was generally kicked off the school bus soon after the school year started, anyway. So it was bicycle or skateboard it to school, anyway. But I preferred biking or skating it; more ways of finding trouble, a scam, a trick!

[MongoAPillager]

what about these little 'Go Green" brownshirts,they refuse to ride the school bus or walk or bicycle,yet spout off about how we need to conserve energy

[artjeb]

Ya got that right fella.
these greenies are hypocrits A 1

[Keyjo]

Then how ate they getting to school?

[MongoAPillager]

@Keyjo have you ever seen a student parking lot?its unbelievable! late model cars as far as the eye can see

[Keyjo]

@MongoAPillager
Yes.

[classychazy]

I walked from one end of town to the other to get to school no matter the weather now the run buses in town! Laziness period!

[Keyjo]

I think maybe child safety is a concern. I think perhaps back in the "good ol' days," conservatives were more low key, under the radar. Today, they spring from behind the bushes to influence children down a dark, regressive path.

[RoyFloyd]

I love riding my bicycle to work, saves a helluvalot of gas money. Use it to shop and it limits my ability to buy unnecessary crap. Also nice for just for a weekend ride. Still the most energy efficient form of transportation known to man. Also mitigates some of the deleterious effects of beer consumption.

[kirbstomp1]

I believe students would perform better. Being active before school may be our nations problem with highschool dropouts. An activity body has an active mind.

[dances-weebles]

yeah... most of them would drop out of school before they'd walk to the car if someone would carry them.

[Warrior_Judge]

What anorexic, vegan, boneheaded yuppie came up with that solution?? Seriously?? People who live in rural areas would never make it on time.

[Cheenoguy]

Read the article. It acknowledged that there are issues that prevent it from being 100% implemented. Obviously the kid who lives on a farm 20 miles out of town will have to ride the bus. The middle schooler who lives 20 blocks away could benefit from walking.

[Hireman]

Not at all. That might curb obesity.

[Jen1027]

We live in a rural farming community. The same bus picks them up together at our farm. I have one child in the elementary school, 19 miles away, and one in the jr. high, 29 miles away! It is neither economical for me to drive them nor possible for them to walk/bike! However, where we used to live my son rode his bike and his grades are much better now than they were back then. We Thank God for the bus system here!

[Belin]

It's not safe enough to have your kids walk or ride their bikes to school anymore. So the subject is moot. Just make sure your child gets enough exercise through sports or just running and playing outside while watching them.

[Dan_Tien]

If that is true, then maybe kids should have recess and PE class first thing in the morning. Instead of having Ritalin pushed on them to keep them passive and sedentary, make them tired. By the way, my son had several teachers who diagnosed him as having ADHD and wanted to medicate him. I refused. They said he would never be able to handle the pressure of high school without it. I asked the teachers how they taught kids to concentrate. They gave me a blank look. I took him to wushu classes 3 times a week instead of medicating him. He graduated valedictorian from his high school class.

[tomincali]

these folks need to make up their minds. first they forced kids to be bused into areas they would never live in and now they want them to walk there.