Looking for a new healthy hobby? Here are 7 ways that cycling can benefit the body and mind.

As humans, we need regular exercise and outdoor time to feel our best.

Cycling combines these two pillars of health into the same activity, opening up a world of opportunities…

Not just for improved well-being, but also for sightseeing, adventure, and environmental benefits.

If you’re looking for a new way to stay active, this list of seven health benefits of cycling makes a solid case for hopping on a bike and pedaling your way to better health.

1. CYCLING IMPROVES CARDIOVASCULAR HEALTH + FITNESS

Cycling is a cardiovascular endurance exercise that improves blood flow to the heart and surrounding blood vessels, increases heart rate, and boosts oxygen delivery.

Over time with regular sessions, your heart can adapt to the activity. As a result, it’ll become more efficient at pumping blood throughout the body and supplying your muscles with the resources they need to perform.

A 2011 systematic review on the health benefits of cycling reported improvements in cardiovascular fitness and cardiovascular risk factors, making it an excellent exercise for supporting heart health.

2. CYCLING CAN HELP MANAGE WEIGHT & BODY FAT LEVELS

Like other forms of cardiovascular exercise, cycling is a great way to burn calories. Combined with proper nutrition, it can help support healthy weight management and fat loss.

A recent study from the International Journal of Obesity found that commuting by bicycle helped participants lose nearly ten pounds of body fat over the course of six months.

3. CYCLING BOOSTS BALANCE + STABILITY

While pumping your legs to accelerate requires the most energy, staying steady on your bike takes a good bit of effort as well.

It can be hard to notice because it’s second nature for the experienced cyclist, but while riding, you’re constantly making countless minor adjustments to keep your bike upright and heading in the right direction.

Gripping the handlebars, maintaining your posture, and balancing on the bike trains your core and crucial stabilizer muscles throughout your body.

The result is better balance and stability off the bike, which is a massive benefit for seniors — as demonstrated by this 2014 study on the gait and balance of elderly women.

4. CYCLING IMPROVES JOINT HEALTH

Millions of people around the world struggle with age or activity-related joint issues that leave them with discomfort and limitations in mobility.

Luckily, however, low-impact exercises like cycling have been shown to help people manage and even reduce the impact these problems have on their lives.

In 2016, The Journal of Rheumatology published a study demonstrating how a three-month cycling program led to significant improvements in discomfort, stiffness, physical limitations, and quality of life for participants with joint health issues.

These findings were supported by a 2020 meta-analysis published in the Journal of Clinical Rehabilitation.

5. CYCLING INCREASES LEG STRENGTH

When riding a bike, your legs constantly have to overcome resistance to move it forward.

Although it’s primarily a cardiovascular exercise, the effort required to push the pedals down makes cycling a resistance exercise as well.

It’s a combined effort of virtually all the major muscles in the lower body, including the glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves.

If you cycle consistently, you can develop one of the most valuable health benefits of cycling: enhanced leg strength.

6. CYCLING CAN REDUCE STRESS & IMPROVE MENTAL HEALTH

As any seasoned rider will tell you, the health benefits of cycling don’t stop at the physical.

It’s a well-known fact that exercise can help reduce stress, lift your mood, and improve mental health — and cycling is no different.

Enjoying your favorite music, a podcast, the sounds of nature, or simply being alone with your thoughts while riding can also help relieve mental tension and foster peace of mind.

Plus, if you cycle outside, you’ll get the added benefits that come with sun exposure and time outdoors!

7. CYCLING ENHANCES CIRCULATION

The last item on our health benefits of cycling list is one of the most profound.

As we discovered in item one — thanks to its nature as a cardiovascular exercise — cycling increases blood flow to the heart and surrounding areas.

But this process also boosts circulation throughout the entire body.

Your hands, arms, shoulders, and core all need oxygen and nutrients to keep you balanced. Not to mention, your legs wouldn’t be able to pedal effectively without a healthy supply of blood.

And, being the biological marvel that it is, the body learns to adapt to this change in blood flow.

Fascinatingly, research on human physiology tells us that regular exercise leads to adaptations in the circulatory system that can increase peak blood flow rates.

This improvement is achieved because the body responds to the new demand for higher volumes of blood by increasing the diameter and density of arteries in skeletal and coronary (heart) tissues.

The Health Benefits of Cycling Don’t Stop There

This list could go on and on, but we wanted to highlight the benefits we thought were most impactful on physical and mental health.

So, if you’ve been thinking about picking up cycling but haven’t gotten around to it, take this article as your call to action.

Dust off that bike in the garage, fill up the tires, and go for a ride. Or, you can always hop on the stationary bike at the gym.

Whatever you choose, as we’ve found out today, the benefits are well worth the effort!

And, if you want to enhance your cycling results — as well as your overall health, recovery, and performance — BEMER therapy can help.

Just two eight-minute BEMER sessions a day stimulates muscles which can increase:

• Local blood flow and circulation
• Oxygen delivery and carbon dioxide removal
• Physical fitness
• Performance and recovery
• Strength and endurance
• Energy and vitality
• Resiliency
• Well-being
• Stress reduction
• Rest and relaxation

Get in touch with a distributor near you today to learn more.