Cycling Benefits
Cycling is one of the best ways to explore the countryside or go around your town without harming the environment or having to load up your car with gas. Cycling is also a great way to go out as a family and enjoy some time together. There are endless amounts of benefits to cycling.
This article outlines some of the benefits you can gain from cycling regularly. If you’re just getting started, you can learn about the different ways that cycling can benefit you physically, mentally, emotionally, and provide environmental benefits to the world around you.
Hopefully, however, after you get on your bike the first few times, you won’t need much of an excuse to keep getting back on and out there!
Benefits of Cycling
1. Your immune system is boosted
Mild exercise improves your immune system by increasing the flow of white blood cells and essential proteins. Cycling is one of the best ways of reducing your contact with a germ-filled atmosphere, like on a train or a bus.
This research was conducted by Professor Tim Noaks at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, who has also noted that your immune system is lowered immediately after an intense workout session. But eating healthy and getting enough amount of sleep will help reverse this.
2. Weight loss and body definition
Eating well and cycling regularly will help promote you to lose weight and build up muscle depending on your routine. It’s very easy to burn calories on a short 30-minute bike ride to work or the supermarket, but you can also make your bike ride enjoyable by going slow and steady down a scenic road.
Between 400 to 1000 calories are burnt in an hour bike ride, this does depend on the intensity but the overall changes to your body also depend on your calorie intake. If you have a balanced diet and go cycling regularly, then your body will become toned as you build muscle around your: quads, hamstrings and glutes. Building up muscle is very important because it helps prevent broken bones since your body will become stronger and endure more, just 45 to 60 minutes is enough to encourage your body to burn those calories.
3. Brainpower is boosted
Any sort of exercise is great for creating a healthier mind, but cycling assists on building up your physical, functional and cognitional structure by keeping your blood flowing around your body at a constant rate to promote more oxygen intake which helps your body a lot.In 2013, a study revealed that cyclists had 28% more blood flow to their brain and 70% more around their body.
It’s very easy to get stressed during your workday, but cycling helps to reduce stress and anxiety as your mental ability gets stronger, it’s also very easy to cycle for 30 minutes through a park and have time for yourself.
4. Low-to-no impact
Keeping ourselves safe is the highest priority, cycling causes less damage to our body compared to other forms of exercise. Running may seem better as you have more control, however, it causes more injury as its more weight-bearing do runners suffer from 133 to 144% more of muscle damage than cyclists.
It’s very easy for people with joint injuries or arthritis around their ankle or hips as cycling helps ease you into exercise.
5. Social sport
It’s very easy to cycle around a route by yourself but with your family or a club of cyclists, it can help to build your social circle and keep you safe. You could cycle to a town and stop for coffee or a picnic to have a break which leaves you feeling accomplished and a more environmentally conscious person,
it’s also great being able to share that with other people because you did it as a team.
6. Reducing air pollution
We all know about the importance of reducing air pollution caused cars and motor transport. Cycling is one of the best ways to reduce our carbon footprints, as it allows you to get from A to B at a moderate speed while emitting no harmful fumes or toxins into the atmosphere.
Increasingly, urban dwellers are finding cycling more accessible than before. With urban councils providing to improve cycling networks across cities to make the roads more cycle-friendly. While cycling to work may be a challenge for those with a long commute, it is certainly possible for those living in cities.
7. Avoid public transport (especially during COVID-19)
As the COVID-19 pandemic has caused widespread global disruption, the impact of the pandemic on the global economy and working practices will surely last for many years, as everyone tries to understand the ‘new normal’.
One of those changes will be people’s reliance on public transport, which can present unnecessary health risks with large groups of people forming together in tight spaces on trains and buses. To combat this, cycling can have a huge benefit in reducing demand for public transport and peak times and consequently reducing risks of community virus transmission. Cycling, particularly commuter cycling, tends to be a solo activity, with very minimal health risks in the context of a global pandemic.
8. Time-efficient
Although a bicycle is no competition compared to a car, bus or train, when commuting or navigating through a city, cycling can become remarkably time-efficient and give you a bit time at the beginning and end of the day. Think about sitting in traffic in a gridlocked part of the city, or queueing for an hour board a busy commuter train which has been delayed due to signalling problems.
All are avoidable when cycling. Sure you may need a small amount of time to securely lock your bike and potentially change clothes, but this time used is minimal compared to other modes of transport.
9. See the great outdoors
Cycling enables you to have a unique experience exploring the great outdoors. Breath in the fresh air, feel the burn of cycling the natural contours of hills and mountains, feel the air resistance as you speed down a huge hill matching the speed of a car. Cycling enables you to appreciate the outdoors more than could ever be experienced by a car.
Cycling enables you to appreciate the outdoors more than could ever be experienced by a car. Cycling enables you to not only see the beautiful landscape but also to touch and feel them.
10. Inclusive
Cycling is a very inclusive physical activity – whether young or old, able or disabled, beginner or experienced, anyone can own and ride a bike. For those who are new to cycling, there are various supporting apparatuses that can help you manage the experience, including stabilizers, tandem bikes, push bikes or specialized bicycles modified for the disabled. Literally, anyone can have a go and experience riding on roads or land on two (or more) wheels.
11. Inexpensive
While brand new, premium bicycles will cost a significant amount of many, you do not need to purchase such expensive bicycles to have a great time. The second-hand bicycle market has grown in recent years, with affordable, well-maintained bikes being posted and purchased regularly.
Whether it Gumtree, eBay or local deals, there are many fantastic deals out there for someone to purchase a bike without needing the break the bank.
12. Child independence and empowerment
We all remember getting our first bicycles, right? Giving a bike to a child can be a hugely transformative experience for children all across the world. In many parts of the developing world, bicycles can cut school journey times, enabling more children to access education.
Bicycles also allow children the opportunity to independently explore their neighborhood and socialize with others. The value of the bicycle to the child should never be underestimated in terms of the freedom that it can grant.
13. Low maintenance costs
Although the technology that makes a bike work is sophisticated, it is nowhere near as complex and costly compared to maintaining a motor vehicle. There are plenty of available resources wish can train you in simple bike maintenance such as replacing a flat tire or refitting the bike chain. Even if you need a more expert opinion on a bike maintenance issue, the cost of repairing a bike is typically very affordable.
14. Improves your navigational skills
If you are new to a city or town and want to get to know the place better by seeing the landmarks, different roads, parks and shortcuts, cycling is one of the best ways to explore and by doing so improving your navigational skills. By cycling on the roads and side streets, you will subconsciously pick up the orientation of a certain place
Benefits (Not Exactly) Concluded
Hopefully, this article has outlined just some of the potential benefits of cycling. The power and transformative potential of the bicycle are huge. Whether it be improving your physical health through fitness, weight loss and brain health, or improving your mental health by being outdoors, exercising and socializing with others – the benefits are many.
Especially as we enter a ‘new normal’ post-COVID world, the importance of keeping fit and healthy, minimizing experiences in busy enclosed spaces, can be supported by cycling regularly