Cycling or bike riding is one of the ways you could do to stay healthy without the need to work so hard. Some researches have found that there are a lot of benefits of cycling than what you know because besides cycling is good for human’s health it is also friendly for the environment. Speaking of human’s health, cycling is not only good for health psychically but also mentally. Well, could you remember how the excitements during your childhood when the first time you learn how to ride a bike? Believe it or not those excitements could last longer than you think even until you are an adult. It is because ride a bike is not only healthy but it is also fun t do so it is also good for your mentality as well.
However, cycling could be much more fun if you are doing it a group instead of cycling by yourself. There are a lot of people who are starting to switch their current public transportation with bike. Unfortunately, don’t force yourself if your house is too far away for your office but you don’t need to worry, you could use the weekend time to ride a bike with the whole family. It is not only fun but also healthy lifestyle.
Health Benefits of Cycling
- Improve Immunity System
Benefits of Cycling could be your best exercise for improve immunity system. It is closely related to the fact that your body will always stay in shape in healthy if you are doing regular exercise. Cycling regularly could assist in improving your immunity system as well.
- Maintain Healthy Muscle
Do you know that inactivity of muscle only for a week could reduce its strength up to 50%? That’s why shrunk muscle usually suffered by older people because in their ages they’re doing physical activity lesser and lesser everyday. By cycling, though you are only in sitting position but the paddling activity enables all of your muscle from legs, tights, arms up to your back section muscle to work together.
- Support the Skeletal System
The paddling activity is not only good for the muscle health but also the skeletal system. It is because the stronger the muscle means the more protected the skeletal system is. Besides that the regular paddling movement is also having great contribution in strengthening the skeletal system as well as the bone density.
- Reduce Back Pains
For those who have problem with their lower back section, cycling is the most recommended activity to reduce the symptoms. By cycling the muscle in the lower back section will be stretched during the exercise and reduce the hardened muscle that caused the pains. Cycling activity will not cause more harm to the back section, it just provides the exercise the back section needs.
- Additional Protection for Joints
Compared to other physical activity perhaps cycling is the best exercise for joints. It is because the joints aren’t forced too hard during the activity because there is no body weight to support but regular cycling is enough to provide the exercises required for joints because energy will still be transported to cartilage to reduce the risk as well as the symptoms of arthrosis.
- Balancing Body Posture
The cooperation of all part of your body, muscles, tendons, ligaments and skeletal system during the cycling activity will provide you the functional exercise that could balance the body posture. It is because this simple activity enables all parts of your body to move without the need to support the body weight.
- Reduce Depression and Anxiety
Do you know that the stable movement during paddling is able to provide relaxing effect? Why do you think music classic is good to release stress? It is because music classic has more stable rhythm compared to other types of music genre. It applies to paddling movement as well. The relaxing effect will lead to the hormonal balance that will affect someone’s mental condition and able to reduce depression and anxiety.
- Good for Respiratory System
All types of sport or physical activities are good for respiratory system and cycling is not the exception. Besides that cycling has its own perks unlike running you could reach longer distance by cycling but less energy because the body weight to support during paddling is lesser compared to running. So you could endure more during cycling.
- Good for Heart
Cycling is also good for heart. Heart consists of group of muscle and as mentioned above inactivity could reduce its strength as well as its function. Cycling is good for heart because you could provide the exercise your heart needs without causing so much stresses that usually happen during intense exercise.
- Body Weight Solution
Exercise regularly is what you need to stay in shape. However, if you’re already having problem with weight gain instead of doing intensive workout why don’t you just switch your regular activity into cycling? And you will be surprised that keeping yourself in shape is not that difficult as long as you the fun way to do the exercise. Cycling is one of those fun ways.
- Aid in Controlling Cholesterol Level
Surely you have known that cholesterol level is closely related to unhealthy lifestyle and diet. Weight gain is the early indication that you should aware of. It means you should start finding a way out to deal with the weight gain because it will leads to obesity and later cholesterol. Regularly cycling exercise could deal with this problem. Recent studies even mentioned that regular exercise during youth age could reduce the risk of weight gain and cholesterol in senior age.
- Aid in Controlling Blood Pressure
One of the main causes of blood pressure issue is when the regulation of blood in the body is disturbed. The causes could be varies but the best way to get rid of the condition is doing regular exercise and cycling is one of the activity recommended.
- Could Fight Cancer
Cycling is not a magic solution for all kinds of health problem but cycling is a good and recommended activity to be conducted daily. Besides that some studies show that doing cycling regularly could keep your healthy cells in order so the development of cancerous cells could be reduced.
- Improve and Maintain Stamina
It is not only limited to cycling activity. All physical activities will lead to the increasing of stamina. Cycling is one of the activities that is recommended because it could be done in regular schedule because maintaining stamina cannot be done occasionally but regularly.
- Be More Attractive
Cycling is a healthy lifestyle. The healthier you are the better your look will be. Believe it or not people who are doing exercise regularly will have more energy and stamina and their energy will radiant and somehow will make them look more attractive.
- Better Quality of Sleep
Routine exercises are always good for those who have problem with sleeping. However, in cycling there are some studies that are conducted for cycling and those studies proved that 20-30 minutes of cycling per day could reduce insomnia and increase the sleep quality.
- Look Younger
Cycling affect the circulation of oxygen and blood to the skin cells that will make it look more radiant and younger.
- Good for Digestive System
Cycling also contributes in the intestine muscle contraction that will prevent you to feel bloated.
- Good for Brain
Cycling is good for blood circulation including the blood circulation through the brain. Optimal blood circulation means optimal supply of oxygen that help in building new brain cells that will affect memory function.
- Better Sex Life
It is related to the improved vascular health during cycling. Healthy vascular means more sex drive that will make your sex life a lot better.
- Good for Pregnancy
Researches found that cycling during pregnancy could help mother giving labor much easier because cycling is low risk activity that is safe for pregnant women.
- Be More Athletic
Better body posture, healthy life, always stay in shape, more energy are what you will get when you are cycling regularly. The combination of those will give you all the athletic advantages.
- Fighting Diabetes
Cycling is also good for diabetes patient especially patients with diabetes type 2 which always related to weight gain problem. Cycling could assist in controlling the obesity so the insulin could be produced optimally by the body.
- Prevent Injury
Cycling is considered to be easy exercise especially when you’re doing it regularly. When you are cycling to go to the gym for more intense workout session, you could reduce the stretching session because you have done that during cycling on your way to the gym. So, it is part to reduce the risk of injury during workout.
- Easy Physical Workout
When it comes to workout sometimes people have a lot of reasons to avoid it like there’s no time or there’s no money to pay the gym or such things. By cycling those reasons could no be applied because it is an easy workout but with big benefits.
Benefits of Cycling for Your Social Life
- You Will Get to Your Destination Faster
Especially for you who are living in the big city with traffic jam almost in every corner and in every hour. Cycling is the best transportation solution that will get you faster to your destination. However, you have to make sure that the distance is not too far.
- Energy Booster
Some studies have found that those people who are doing regular exercise in the morning before attend office tend to have bigger energy and longer endurance at work. Cycling to your office is part of the exercise that you could do daily and regularly without the need to hit the gym.
- Save More Money
It is not only about saving the daily transportation cost and fuel cost which is true. You could save a lot of money by cycling to your office than using public transportation or pay fuel for your car.
- Be More Creative
The time you have during cycling could be used as your ‘alone’ time. Something that is rarely you get if you are riding in public transportation. Fresh air, beautiful scenery will assist in stimulating your brain to be more creative while your mental become calmer so you could think clearer.
- Develop Positive Addiction
Cycling could be turned into addiction as well because it is not only fun but also having a lot of benefits. However, addicted to cycling is considered to be positive and healthy addiction. So whenever you feel like cycling then just do it.
- Possibility of Meeting New People
The route you take during cycling will probably lead you to some new people. Cycling is not only riding car that will give you all the privacy. Cycling will give you a chance to socialize with other people much easier.
- Better Way to Spend Time
Instead of spending time in your couch eating pizza while watching movies is better for you to get out and cycling. Cycling is the best idea to spend your spare time. You can ask your friends or family to join you and you can make cycling activity become regular activity and get all the fun as well as all the health benefits.
- You Could Do It For the Rest of Your Life
It is true that compared to others sports or exercise you could do cycling for the rest of your life. The point of cycling is the paddling activity and even elderly could do the paddling. Besides, you have parents who have hit senior age and you don’t know what to do to ask them exercising just ask them to ride a bike with you.
- Knowing Your Area Better
Compared to other types of transportation you could use bike to explore your area and environment much better. Besides, bike could pass some narrow streets that impossible for car or motorcycle. Furthermore, during cycling you could say hi to your neighbors and get to know them better.
- Cheap Exercise
Just by doing cycling regularly you don’t need to pay more money to the gym membership. Cycling is functional exercise. Well, perhaps it depends on type of bike you choose for the cycling. The better the quality is the more expensive the bike is and you should spare some money for the maintenance but in long term cycling is still much cheaper compared to gym membership.
Benefits of Cycling for Others and Environment
- Contribute in Energy Saving
There is no doubt that choosing bike as your main transportation will be much friendlier to the environment because there is no unsustainable energy that is used like other types of transportations. You could contribute in making this world a little better just by cycling to go to schools or to go to work.
- Avoid Pollution
Unlike the other types of transportations that are using fuel or other unsustainable energy surely cycling is greener because there is no pollution or certain emission produced during cycling.
- Possibility to Reduce Traffic Jam
Do you know one of the reasons behind traffic jam? Surely you know since it is very obvious which is the number of cars are more than the capacity of the streets could handle. That’s why it usually happens in the big city. Besides, driving car gives people more prestige than riding a subway. That’s kind of mindset that should be changed immediately if you want a better place for your grandchildren to live.
- Inspire Others
Perhaps you don’t realize that just by cycling everyday to go to work while your children are also cycling to go to schools you have inspired people to do the same. Perhaps it will start small like only the nearest neighbor but then some of your friends at work will realize the benefits you get just by cycling and without you know it, the number of people who decided to have a better life by cycling is increased progressively.
- Helping Others through Bike Event
There are a lot of clubs or communities that are formed today. Some of them have used that kind of bound to hold a charity event or fund raise event in order to help others. You must be surprised that cycling is no longer individual activity but already becoming a group activity as well.
As mentioned above, cycling is not only having a lot of benefits for human health but also for human’s social life and the environment. Some countries have proven that it is possible to make cycling as part of their culture and daily life as the part of vision to make future a better place to live for the next generations not some eras that you should afraid of. Well, you don’t need to think big, what you need to do now is just starting it yourself. Once you have started cycling activity regularly and then ask your family to join you and then your neighbor, your friends, your co worker at work or even your boss to be part of this healthy culture. You will be surprised that good things will spread eventually even if you don’t try to push it so hard. Happy cycling.