Portland Direct Primary Care
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Beyond 7 minutes

I trained as a Family Doctor so that I would be ready to help patients with any challenge. The old school family doc used to take that skill set out into the community on house calls, sports sidelines, and town hall meetings. At some point the job description was boiled down into a job that started and ended with a 7 minute office visit. That setup is not good for patients, and it's not good for doctors. In this column I hope to start to push the boundary of where the doctor patient interaction takes place - onto the page, into the community, and beyond 7 minutes.

Bicycles and Health

If you’ve ever ridden a bike you know there is nothing quite like the feeling of rolling down a street or trail in the open air. Its a level of freedom and connection that doesn't happen in a car. In addition to enjoyment there are some interesting and unexpected ways which bikes can help benefit personal and community health. 

  1. Safer Transportation Infrastructure

    Riding in cars is an inherently dangerous activity. Globally, car crashes are the leading cause of death for young people (cdc.gov). Riding bicycles is not without risk; however, as cities change their infrastructure from being car centric to including safe walking, biking, and public transit options the streets become safer for everyone.

  2. Cleaner Air

    Living near a highway is a risk factor for developing asthma. Bikes do not create any emissions, which helps keep our air cleaner. 

  3. Jobs available to a diversity of people

    Sales, repair, education, tourism, trail building, city planning are all examples of green jobs created around bikes. These jobs are available to wider range of ages and abilities than some other sectors which require higher education.

  4. Cost Savings

    The cost of owning and maintaining a bike is miniscule when compared to owning a car and filling it with gas. The money saved by using a bike for some or all of peoples transportation needs can be redirected to other health activities; healthy food, entertainment, vacation just to name a few.

  5. Physical Fitness

    National exercise guidelines recommend at least 150 minutes per week of moderate intensity physical activity for adults, and more for children. For many folks with sedentary jobs finding the time to exercise can be a major barrier to meeting these guidelines. Biking for transportation allows people to build physical activity into their day. If someone's bike commute is 15 minutes and they bike to work 5 days a week they have met the exercise goal! Even biking to work or school once per week can put a good dent in the weekly physical activity quota.

If you are interested in getting into biking but have questions or are looking for resources check out www.bikemaine.org/ which is a great resource with good educational materials. Also many local businesses, including Portland Direct Primary Care, participate in bicycle benefits which give discounts to people who ride their bikes to shop or attend appointments https://bicyclebenefits.org/


Oren Gersten, MD