We all know how important it is to exercise and yet most of us seem to miss out on an appropriate amount of the stuff.
Like most of us Britons, you’re probably more of a couch potato than a bootstrapper... tucking into a glass of wine and absentmindedly picking at a bag of snacks while the TV plays in the background. The settee is comfy, the room is warm, and you think to yourself “Why should I get out for that bike ride?”
Admittedly, day one of a new exercise regime does not tend to be the most enjoyable experience. Sure, a fantastic view and the fresh air can make up for it in some ways, but realistically you’ll spend more time with your head down staring at the sweat drizzled frame of your bike, just desperate to get the pedal around the gears one more time.
But making a point to cycle every day – despite the early difficulties in getting going – can be a real game changer. People who get themselves out for a daily cycle experienced an increased rate of injury recovery. Take a torn hamstring for example, an injury such as this would prevent even the most seasoned runner from lacing up their boots for weeks. Taking so much time away would soon see your muscles atrophy and your stamina levels drop making it that much harder to get back in the saddle.
With cycling being a fairly low intensity exercise that is more akin to swimming than running, it can be the perfect middle ground between a lazy day in and an active day out for someone dealing with an injury.
Cycling can also be a great release for a wealth of mental stresses. Simply being out in the fresh air and getting moving can be all you need to earn a couple hours of freedom from the trials of the day. Giving yourself a moment to re-prioritise and reorganise can make an earlier stressful task seem much easier to handle.
Further to the above, cycling on a regular basis has been shown to provide the body with a small but not insignificant boost to the immune system. Following on from 2019/20 COVID pandemic, the need for a well maintained immune system has never been more apparent. Aging Cell recently published a scientific study conducted on 125 cyclists between the ages of 55 & 79, the study found that the thymus (an organ which makes immune cells) was generating cells at the same rate as a 20 year old! This finding is significant as the thymus typically slows down after the age of 20, proving that regular exercise is a key part of staying healthy long-term, and that the bicycle can be the ideal tool to achieve this.
Professor Stephen Harridge, the director at the Centre of Human & Aerospace Physiological Sciences at King’s College London said: “The findings emphasise the fact that the cyclists do not exercise because they are healthy, but that they are healthy because they have been exercising for such a large proportion of their lives.
“Their bodies have been allowed to age optimally, free from the problems usually caused by inactivity. Remove the activity and their health would likely deteriorate.”
