12 Top Benefits of Cycling: Why Cycling Is Good For Your Health

Introduction

Being fit and maintaining an active lifestyle is going to be an essential part of our lifestyle. Recent pandemic COVID -19 has taught us that doing regular exercise is as much as important as eating healthy food. As per recommendations, adults undertake at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity a week and strength activities on at least two days a week.

Cycling is one of the best aerobic exercises that offers numerous benefits. Cycling is a healthy, low-impact exercise that can enjoy by anyone of any age of both genders. It is great fun as well as the best physical activity to shed extra calories. Also, many articles suggest that there are some barriers to women cycling but few know that it is a very good activity for women too.  

Health Benefits of Cycling

Cycling is a simple yet effective exercise with great benefits without much effort. This aerobic activity makes you breathe deeper, perspire, and experience increased body temperature, which will improve your overall fitness level. This activity keeps your heart, lungs, blood vessels, and other major organs healthy and strong.  

1. Promote Weight Loss

Regular, high-intensity cycling can help you to lose extra calories and promote healthy weight management. Continuous cycling can burn approximately 300 calories per hour. Also, this exercise can increase your metabolism rate that also helps to burn extra calories and build muscles.

2. Increase Muscle Tone and Strength

Cycling doesn’t just burn fat but it also builds muscle. When use pedals, your leg muscles specifically your thigh and calf muscles are strengthened. During cycling, your calf muscles contract that leads to pump blood from lower extremities to upper extremities. Cycling particularly strengthens your leg muscles such as the hamstring, glutes, and calves.

3. Good for Heart

Cycling is a great, impactful exercise that increases your heart rate by pumping more blood to your heart. Regular cycling can dilate blood vessels and reduce blood pressure. It also increases your heart muscle elasticity and strengthens your arteries. Research suggests that daily cycling for half an hour, a minimum of three days per week showed lower blood pressure and low bad cholesterol levels.

4. Mental Calmness and Well-being

A simple exercise can promote mental calmness, ease of anxiety, stress, and depression. Cycling is the best option to calm your hyperactive mind. Cycling also improves concentration and awareness. Exercise like cycling can boost your mood by releasing adrenalin and endorphins.  

5. Boost the Immune System

One of the great benefits of exercise is it will boost your immunity to fight against infection. According to a study, cycling can increase the activity of antibodies and white blood cells that are essential to fight disease.

According to me, cycling is a great form of exercise. Doing cycling regularly might help in reducing joint pain, and stiffness, and improve the quality of life in elderly patients suffering from arthritis.

Dr. Siddharth Gupta, B.A.M.S, M.D (Ayu)

6. Increase Lung Capacity

You won’t believe it but cycling can increase your lung capacity. Cycling raises your rate of respiration that leads to a more increased amount of oxygen in your lungs. It helps to make your lung stronger and healthy.

7. Reduce the Risk of Cancer

Many researchers have studied that cycling can reduce the risk of getting cancer especially colon and breast cancer. Cycling can reduce the risk of both premenopausal and postmenopausal breast cancer.  

8. Control of Diabetes

Everyone knows that lack of physical activity is one of the key factors causing diabetes. Researchers found that people who cycled daily for 30 minutes had a lower risk of getting diabetes.  

9. Improves Sleep Patterns

There isn’t rocket science behind the improvement in sleep due to cycling. But now it’s proven that cycling can reduce your sleep problems and induce sound sleep.

In my opinion, regular cycling, especially when done outdoors, is highly beneficial. It might help you in protecting from some serious diseases like heart attack, stroke, diabetes, arthritis, etc. It also might help in improving the stamina, strength, and aerobic capacity of an individual.

Dr. Rajeev Singh, BAMS

10. Strengthen Bone Health

Cycling improves the strength and power of your bones. It also helps to prevent fractures and other bone diseases. Cycling can provide some extra benefits to women are as follows –

11. Reduce Osteoarthritis  

Women are at higher risk of getting arthritis due to biology, genetic predisposition, and hormones. Cycling can help women to get rid of joint pains by reducing weight. Cycling is a non-load-bearing activity, so women can do it irrespective of age group.  

12. Alleviate Painful Menstruation Symptoms

Cycling can help to alleviate the unpleasant side effects of menstruation, pregnancy, and menopause.  

Cycling can be fun to keep you healthy and strong. It also beats boredom and helps to elevate your mood and release stress. Just be aware while cycling especially on busy roads or in rainy weather.  

13. Good for Sports Enthusiasts

There are several competitions that are held every year for the sport, of cycling. Sports enthusiasts may take part in these and get to show the skills they have obtained or may simply do it for fun.

14. May Boost Brain Capacity

Cycling is a vigorous physical activity that ensures increased flow of blood to the essential organs of the body including the brain. It helps the brain function efficiently and reduces the risk of diseases such as Dementia.

15. Improves Hand-eye Coordination

Maintaining the handles of the cycle according to what you see ahead of you is a great way of improving hand-eye coordination. It helps improve your reflex and also increases body balance.  

16. Let’s You Enjoy Your Beloved Desserts

Cycling is a great exercise that helps keep your body weight under control. All the extra calories that pile up due to the chocolate cheesecake you enjoyed after lunch, can be shed off with just an additional mile of cycling.

17. Saves Time and Money

Cycling is an amazing alternative to using a car. It helps save money that would have otherwise gone to the gas station, not to mention the ever-rising price of fuel. Cycling is a fast and cheap mode of travel.

Disclaimer: The information provided here is for educational/awareness purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for medical treatment by a healthcare professional and should not be relied upon to diagnose or treat any medical condition. The reader should consult a registered medical practitioner to determine the appropriateness of the information and before consuming any medication. PharmEasy does not provide any guarantee or warranty (express or implied) regarding the accuracy, adequacy, completeness, legality, reliability or usefulness of the information; and disclaims any liability arising thereof.

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