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There are more than 610,000 American citizens who die every year due to obesity, high blood pressure and heart disease. A team of researchers knew that a physical activity can reduce these risks significantly. However, it was unclear whether the daily commute to work had the same impact on health. For this reason, Dr. Hisako Tsuji, lead study author Dr. Hisako Tsuji, director Moriguchi City Health Examination Center in Osaka, Japan along with colleagues did a research on over 5908 adults in Japan and presented their analysis in the American Heart Association's Scientific Session in Orlando, FL. The subjects of the research were divided into three groups - those who took the public transport to work, those who walked or cycled and those who drove in their cars. The average age of the subjects was between 49 and 54 years, reports Medical News Today.

As per the results of the study, the subjects who used public transport for their daily commute were 44% less likely to be obese, 34% less chances of diabetes, and 27% less likely to suffer from high blood pressure. Based on these findings, Dr. Tsuji recommends, "People should consider taking public transportation instead of a car, as a part of daily, regular exercise. It may be useful for health care providers to ask patients about how they commute". However, the researchers said that there are certain limitations in their study for example, all the participants are from Japan and they are not as overweight as Americans. Additionally, they also suggest that the researchers who take the public transport may already be healthy. Despite the limitations, the team believes that this subject should be further investigated, as reported by Medical News Today.