Individuals above the age of 55 years cannot easily travel, engage in social activities and hence show lower levels of health

People who travel beyond 15 miles from home are more healthy compared to those who mostly stay back, according to a recent study by University College London (UCL).

Traveling to other regions is associated with greater social interaction because people are more likely to interact with friends and family.

The social interaction is directly linked to health, the study claims.

The study titled Transport and Health was conducted online on 3104 residents of northern England. The region has poor transport accessibility because of which the residents face worse health outcomes as compared to the rest of England.

The researchers studied perceived limitations to traveling outside, a lack of suitable public transport, and self-rated health, considering trip frequency, the number of different places visited, distance traveled by car use, and public transport use.

The study recommends developing transport facilities, which include developing the roads and increasing the availability of buses, trains, and metros. Though the economic drawbacks and lower sense of well being were already discussed in the previous papers, its impact on health was not identified.

Individuals above the age of 55 years cannot easily travel, engage in social activities and hence show lower levels of health, the study says. In rural and suburban areas of north England, the younger generation is likely to move out to cities in search of work and better transport services. Due to this, the older generation is left behind with limited access to transport facilities.

The study calls for developing public policies to improve transportation facilities to overcome hindrances to travel.

Author

Insha Dar

Insha Mushtaq, a health reporter for The Health Leads, hails originally from Srinagar, Kashmir. She possesses an uncanny ability to distill complex issues into accessible and engaging articles. In addition, Insha holds a bachelor’s degree in Mass Media from Mumbai University and is currently pursuing a Master's in Convergent Journalism at the Central University of Kashmir.
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