Your health: Walk or bike to work to increase happiness

Walk or bike to work to increase happiness

Walking to work is not only good for your body; it may also benefit your psychological health, a new study from England suggests, FOX News reports.

In the study, the researchers analyzed information from nearly 18,000 commuters in England who answered questions about their well-being, such as whether they experienced feelings of worthlessness, unhappiness or sleepless nights in the last few weeks. Based on those answers, the researchers gave each participant a well-being score. Participants completed the survey for at least three consecutive years between 1991 and 2009.

People who walked or cycled to work had higher well-being scores than those who drove. In particular, people who drove to work had a 13 percent higher likelihood of feeling that they were constantly under strain and unable to concentrate, compared with those who walked or cycled.

The findings held even after the researchers took into account factors that could affect well-being, such as household income, overall health and whether the participants had children.

What's more, people who switched from driving to walking or cycling to work tended to experience an improvement in well-being, the study found.

“These results appear to suggest that avoiding car driving may be beneficial to well-being,” the researchers wrote in the Sept. 15 issue of the journal Preventive Medicine.

More medical debt than savings: survey

One in four people say their medical debt exceeds their emergency savings, according to a recently published survey, The Washington Post reports.

The problem is even more acute among low-income people, as you might expect. Nearly half (44 percent) of those earning less than $30,000 per year say their emergency savings are eclipsed by medical debt, according to the Bankrate survey.

And most people (about 55 percent) say they're worried that they won't have enough savings to pay their medical bills.

Medical debt was the top reason for individual bankruptcy filings in 2013, according to a study earlier this year from Nerd Wallet, a personal finance website.