Feel Younger, Lose Weight, Whip Depression and Speed Surgical Recovery - on Your Bicycle

Are you feeling too fat, too tired and old beyond your years?

Do even simple challenges sometimes leave you feeling anxious and depressed?

Has hip replacement or other major joint surgery left you sure that you are "over the hill"?

Make a comeback by freeing that old bike of yours from lonely storage in the garage; dig it out, grease it up and prepare to dramatically improve your life. The bicycle is a wonder-machine, indeed.

Cycling can help you: combat aging; burn excess fat; dispel anxiety and depression; even speed surgical recovery after a total hip replacement.

Regular exercise can make you feel younger. Along the way it may also reduce stress on your heart, increase your lung capacity and establish better sleep patterns. These improvements can make your body physiologically more youthful than someone of the same age who's an inactive slob. In fact, a study of British twins shows that exercise is more important for combating aging than genes; physically active people are around 9 years younger on a cellular level than inactive people of the same real age.

Regular cycling can absolutely help you burn excess flab and increase your lean muscle mass. According to calculations done at caloriesperhour.com, a 190-pound cyclist can burn 700 to 800 calories in just one hour of bicycle riding at a speed of 14 miles per hour. A small amount of Internet research will allow you to calculate your personal Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). The BMR tells you how many calories you will burn doing absolutely nothing each day. Armed with this knowledge, you can easily devise a calorie-specific personal menu that gives you a solid plan to burn more calories than you take in resulting in weight and excess fat loss.

One definition of depression might include being in a state of severe dejection and having feelings of anxiety and inadequacy. According to MayoClinic.com, "Exercise can improve symptoms of depression and anxiety. Even a little exercise helps. Some evidence suggests that exercise raises the levels of certain mood-enhancing neurotransmitters in the brain." Combining this with a body that is more efficient, leaner and stronger should make just about anybody a better balanced and happier person. You can't be "happier" and "depressed" at the same time, can you?

According to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, over 234,000 total hip replacement surgeries are performed in the US each year. Dr. Thomas Aleto, a leading orthopedic surgeon at the University of Missouri School of Medicine, assures his cycling patients that their riding days are far from over after total hip replacement surgery. In fact, Dr. Aleto recommends regular bicycling as one of the most beneficial exercises to promote healing, regain strength and ensure range of motion. Don't forget that regular exercise may help greatly with the natural depression that can follow major surgery; being outside and cycling will only enhance the benefit.

Get fit, happy and healthy on your bike: you might even rediscover that joy you had as a child when you first pedaled off to freedom and adventure. "It's like riding a bike; once you learn you never forget."