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 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.
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.
# Promote weight loss Regular, high-intensity cycling can help you to lose extra calories and promotes 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.
# 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.
# 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.
# 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.
# Boost 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.
# 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.
# 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.
# 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.
# 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.
# 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 –# 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 groups.
# Alleviate painful menstruation symptoms Cycling can help to alleviate the unpleasant side effects of menstruation, pregnancy, and menopause.