Good for your health
The WHO constantly recommends that we break our sedentary habits by adopting regular physical activity, and cycling perfectly fulfills this role! Indeed, this sport, which is low-impact and "supported", allows the spine and joints to be freed from body weight, making it a sport accessible to everyone, provided your bike is properly adjusted beforehand!
By keeping your back straight, you can strengthen the paravertebral and intervertebral muscles responsible for lower back pain. Say goodbye to back pain caused by prolonged sitting!
Is the back the only part of the body involved in cycling? Not at all! Cycling will allow you to strengthen your legs (calves, shins, hamstrings, quadriceps, and gluteal muscles) as well as your arms (biceps, triceps), shoulders (deltoids), and even your abdominal core.
Cycling also helps maintain an essential muscle: the heart. Physical activity will increase your heart rate and thus increase blood flow to deliver the oxygen your muscles need to function properly. What are the consequences? Vasodilation of blood vessels and therefore a softening of arterial walls, which translates to a decrease in blood pressure!
Furthermore, sport facilitates blood circulation in the coronary arteries and also improves blood fluidity. Not to mention the advantage that regular physical activity provides in creating new arterial circuits in the heart to substitute for blocked arteries.
While cycling can adapt to all types of athletes thanks to its flexibility in effort (easy variation of pedaling speed, geographical variety of terrains), be careful not to exceed the heart rate beyond which an accident can occur; talk to your doctor.
It's easier to understand why the WHO advises cycling to reduce the risks of overweight and cardiovascular diseases!
Pedal to lose weight
Losing weight by cycling, a reality? Indeed! The best diet is to combine a nutritionally rich diet with regular physical activity and a fit mindset.
What better way than cycling to get into sport and lose those extra pounds? Indeed, exercising will allow you to expend energy and thus burn calories. Weight loss, however, depends on modifying our caloric intake. If you expend more energy than you consume in calories, you will start to lose the fat stored in your adipocytes (fat cells), which will reduce their volume.
🩹Be careful, however, to continue to build muscle. Weight loss unfortunately leads to a loss of muscle mass, which is responsible for our basal metabolism that allows us to burn calories at rest, so it's best to preserve this asset🩹
A healthy mind in a healthy body
We couldn't talk about sports without addressing the topic of neuroscience. Physical activity allows for the secretion of various hormones:
- Serotonin Responsible for mood, prevents depression
- Endorphin Pleasure hormone
- Dopamine Pleasure and alertness hormone, it will allow you to be more productive and less tired
- Norepinephrine and adrenaline Stress hormones, they will give you motivation, and norepinephrine will help eliminate fat cells.
💡Note that endorphin and dopamine are the hormones that will make you addicted to cycling!
The body also produces cortisol during physical activity, and cortisol is the hormone secreted during a stressful situation. Exercising therefore allows you to release energy and reduce stress.
😴Be careful, it is advised to avoid sports in the evening because cortisol takes about 3 hours to decrease, according to specialists.
Sport allows us to feel better in our body, restores our confidence, helps us sleep better, be less stressed, and therefore be happier.
Less stress
Sport reduces our stress levels, but let's talk a bit more about the context.
Cycling to work, facing the rising sun, breathing the fresh air, taking your time, arriving on time because nothing constrains you. Ultimately, cycling gives us a great sense of freedom; who wouldn't want to start their day this way rather than stuck in traffic or crammed into public transport?
On a bike, you'll breathe fresh air and feel good about doing so much good for yourself!
A great benefit for the planet
I'm sure you love the planet we live on, and cycling will help you take care of it.
Indeed, Trek, a global bicycle manufacturer, indicates that an electric bicycle would emit 500 times less CO2 than a sedan and 700 times less than an SUV.
And on the production side, a conventional bicycle has a carbon footprint of 100kg during its manufacturing; 165kg for an electric bicycle. If we look at cars, manufacturing an SUV is equivalent to the manufacture of 78 bicycles, or about 7800kg of CO2!
The state, wishing to improve its carbon footprint, has also implemented the sustainable mobility package, which will allow you, under certain conditions, to earn up to €600 per year if you commute to and from home by bike – a boon for our wallets!
So why hesitate? On your marks, get set, pedal! 🚲
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