Bike to Work Day 2009: Health Benefits of Biking to Work

There are many health benefits when you ride a bike to work. The health benefits of riding a bike to work will also help you to meet the minimum requirements for exercising each day. It has been suggested by The Mayo Clinic that everybody needs at least thirty minutes of some form of moderately strenuous exercise most days of the week. I personally, try and get exercise 6 days a week for 40 minutes a day. If you ride your bike to work, you will be killing two birds with one stone. You will commuting by bike to work, and you will also receive many health benefits. In this article I will explain why riding a bike to work is an excellent form of exercise.

A health benefit for biking to work is that it is an excellent cardiovascular exercise. It helps you to burn calories, ie. according to the Calories Burned During Exercise Chart at NutriStrategy if you weighed 190 lbs you can burn anywhere from 690 calories in a hour with moderate bike ride, to 1035 calories racing over 20 miles a hour. Purchasing a bike with several speeds will also allow you to increase you fitness level as your cardiovascular level improves. I ride a bike with 15 speeds, because I have to ride on many hills in and around the Catskills of New York. If you are going to be riding on level ground you can get by with a bike with less than 10 speeds, or even a commuter bicycle. If you are riding your bike at an easy speed over even ground, you will not reap as many health benefis that you can get when you ride your bike up hills, believe me, this will get your heart racing. Riding up hills is great workout for the quadriceps and hamstrings. It also helps your heart rate increase, which helps you burn all those calories. You should always ride your bicycle as fast as you can to get the most health benefits. When I bike down a hill or incline I will adjust my gears so that I am still pedalling, instead of coasting down the hills.

An excellent health benefit to biking to work is that it help you lose weight, and is also an excellent exercise for weight management. Everybody feels good when they are at a good weight, ie, you look good to yourself, as well as to others and this will increase your self-esteem. There are many health benefits of being at your goal weight vs obsiety which has many health disadvantages.

Women are always self-conscious about their posterior. Well you can give your bottom a good work out as you bike to work. What you want to do is raise your bottom about an inch or more off the bike seat as you ride your bike to work. Squeeze your bottom as you pedal and after a couple of miles, you will feel the effects in your posterior.

Another health benefit when you ride your bicycle, is the strengthing of the abominal core muscles. Your stomach muscles are kept tense during much of the cycling motion, this is very much like the crunches in aerobics. This helps to build up your abdominal region, and it also helps you to keep your balance, which is great for other sports. A strong abdominal core can therefore take much of the weight off your torso, and this puts less stress on your lower back and it will help alleviate stress on your lower back. A good, strong abdominal region, also helps to absorb some of the weight when you lifting, putting less stress on your back.

Bike riding will actually increase your energy and stamina, because bike riding strengthens your heart. You will not tire as quickly, and you will be able to do more for a longer period of time. Inactivity is actually caused by the lack of energy, and is not necessarily caused by aging.

Bicycling is kinder to the joints than jogging. I had to quit jogging several years ago, because I was suffering badly from shin splints. A few years ago I tried to jog again and the burning in my shins returned. I had to find a different form of exercise. Jogging can also be harder on the joints than cycling. Bicycling for middle age people is beneficial because they often experience joint discomfort especially in the knees as they get older. Joint problems may be caused by the lack of proper calcium levels but bike riding may help increase the bone density and protect against bone mass decline. Bike riding is good exercise for the body's joints, as it helps to build up the muscle fiber around the joints, thereby reinforcing the joints. My father, who is in his 70's has had two knee replacement operations and still rides the bike in order get his weekly exercise requirements.

You should adjust the seat height on your bike so that your legs have complete full motion when you are cycling. This helps to stimulate the blood in your leg muscles and the health benefit of riding your bicycle is the increased circulation in your legs.

Another crucial health benefit of riding a bike to work is that it helps prevents cancer, according to the Mayo Clinic "Exercise has been shown to strengthen the immune system, improve circulation, reduce body fat and speed digestion. Each has a role in preventing cancer, particularly cancers of the colon, prostate, uterine lining and breast." This is one of the best reason to ride a bike to work.

An important health benefit to ride your bike to work, is the affects that it has on your mental health. Riding your bike to work, helps to lessen stress, depression and anxiety. We have all heard of the "runner high" when you feel euphoric at some point in your exercise routine. This usually occurs because endorphins are released into your system. This can occur during any cardiovascular workout, and riding your bike to work is a cardiovascular workout.

The last health benefit that I will deal with, is that if you ride your bike to work, it will help to lower your blood pressure and it will also help to lower your cholesterol level, and these are the leading causes of heart failure.

So, ride your bike to work and recieve the health benefits as well. Riding your bicycle is a great cardiovascular exercise, that will help improve your health.