Benefits and barriers of active commuting to the school center: a systematic review

Abstract

Scientific evidence shows us how a lack of movement throughout the day can have negative effects on our health. Active commuting to school enables the acquisition of healthy habits following the recommendations of the World Health Organization. The purpose of this article was to carry out a systematic review of the state of the art, in relation to active commuting to school, the existing obstacles and its physical, psychological, and motivational benefits at different educational stages. The design corresponds to a review of previous studies published between 2015 and 2020. The databases Web of Science, Pubmed and Scopus were used to carry out the study. For the selection of studies, only those that matched the pre-established standards were identified. From the 25 initial results, 13 articles were selected that met the pre-specified eligibility standards. The results showed a positive relationship between active commuting from home to school and associated health benefits for the practitioners. In contrast, a significant number of barriers were associated with the choice of active commuting to schools, high schools and/or universities. More research and published studies are needed to clarify specifically and detailed the health benefits of active commuting, as well as the steps to be taken in plans to minimize the barriers to active commuting.