Physical benefits of cycling
Your Heart
While your heart is an organ, it is also a muscle. As such, when it is exercised it grows stronger. According to studies done by the National Health Institute, World Health Organization, and British Medical Association, there is a correlation between moderate aerobic exercise and a decrease in Cardiovascular disease by up to 50%. As your heart gets stronger it will lower your blood pressure and make many everyday activities easier. Besides, who wants to run out of breath climbing the stairs or running after your child?
Weight loss
If Calories Burned > Calories Eaten = Weight Loss, then it would follow that cycling can be a big part of the equation in helping you lose weight. If you are like me cycling is also a fun activity. The small things you see along the way, the fresh air in the lungs, the air rushing across your head where hair used to be. Okay, the last one might be a little more specific to my situation. The weight loss will also flow back into the first benefit of your heart.
Toned muscles
Have you ever seen a biker’s calves and thighs? Take for example the picture to the right. This is just some plain Joe, not a professional biker, not some freak who has nothing to do but cycle. Certainly not someone who never has a stack of files on the floor. Perhaps you’ve guessed, but that’s my leg, though not today. I would like to think that I have gained this weight so that I can give other people the encouragement to follow my lead. That is my story about the weight gain and I am sticking to it!
Less sick
I have to take their word for this one. Luckily, I don’t get sick very often whether I am exercising or not. According to Cath Collins, chief dietitian at St George’s Hospital in London, “Moderate exercise makes immune cells more active, so they’re ready to fight off infection.” Locally, research from the University of North Carolina showed that people who cycled for 30 minutes, every day a week took almost half as many sick days as though who didn’t exercise.
Better Sleep
Much to my wive’s chagrin I can fall asleep fast. Exercising, not exercising, none of that seems to affect it. I will say that the quality of my sleep is better. I may be in bed for the same amount of time, but I awake more refreshed. Professor Jim Horne from Loughborough University’s Sleep Research Center attributes this to getting outside in the light. He said, “Exercising outside exposes you to daylight. This helps get your circadian rhythm back in sync, and also rids your body of cortisol, the stress hormone that can prevent deep, regenerative sleep.” There you have it. I am glad that there is an expert there to back up my research!