Are you someone with a sedentary lifestyle? Do you spend long hours in front of the computer, eating junk food, skipping meals, sleeping badly – all of this while being addicted to your smartphone and social media? Then the chances that you are setting yourself up for long-term damage are high. Here are few things to anticipate when you have such a lifestyle: Are you someone with a sedentary lifestyle? Do you spend long hours in front of the computer, eating junk food, skipping meals, sleeping badly – all of this while being addicted to your smartphone and social media? Then the chances that you are setting yourself up for long-term damage are high. Here are few things to anticipate when you have such a lifestyle:
- You lose control of weight.
- You become extremely obese.
- You develop metabolic syndrome.
- Risk of cardiovascular diseases is higher.
- Risk of type 2 diabetes, hypertension, etc. is also high.
Simple changes in your lifestyle will help you keep all these issues at bay. And one of these changes you can make is to simply start biking! And one of the best ways to form the habit of biking, particularly if you don’t have the time to indulge in the activity separately, is to regularly start biking to work, instead of driving.
Not convinced? Here are ten reasons why you should use a bike instead of a car, on your workplace commute:
Biking keeps your bones and joints healthy
One of the earliest ill-effects of a sedentary lifestyle is the loss of flexibility, joint pain, and weak bones. Biking helps to strengthen the joints, especially the knee joint, improve flexibility to the legs; and helps to keep your bones healthy by acting on calcium metabolism.
Biking helps to burn those extra calories
Extra calories are notoriously responsible for the increased risk of lifestyle-related diseases. Biking at a moderate speed will help you burn a lot more calories than your usual metabolic rate. When you pedal, you have to spend a lot of energy to make the bike move forward. Doing this continuously will burn all those extra calories that you consume while snacking.
Biking improves circulation to all the parts of the body
Biking to work will make sure that the blood flows to all the parts of the body. When you bike, your heart rate goes up, making the heart pump faster. This pushes the blood forcefully out of the heart. This force ensures that the blood reaches even the remotest areas of the body.
Biking helps improve coordination and reflexes
Doing desk work for a long time tends to dampen your reflexes and coordination. But when you start biking, these will get boosted. When you are biking on the road, you have to make sure that you negotiate every turn carefully and also have to be alert to avoid any accidents. This alertness will help you to improve your reflexes.
Biking helps improve overall fitness
Regular biking will help improve the overall fitness of your body. First of all, it activates all the muscles, leading to increased endurance and decreased fatigability. This keeps all the muscles sharp, mainly the fast twitch muscles. Secondly, it improves blood circulation. Thirdly, it keeps the joints active and strong. It helps lose weight. It reduces the risk of cardiovascular fitness. All these put together will go a long way towards improving your overall fitness.
Biking boosts confidence
When you bike for more than thirty minutes, the chemicals released in the brain give you a feeling akin to the feeling of receiving applause. This helps to boost your confidence. Moreover, maintaining great fitness, form, and physique also adds to this self-esteem factor.
Biking saves you a lot of money
Here is one super reason why you should bike – it saves you a lot of money. You’ll be saving at least a few dollars a day, which you would otherwise spend on fuel.
Biking helps you escape traffic
With the volume of vehicles increasing day by day, traffic is becoming a progressively greater problem. If you want to escape the traffic and save time, then go on a bike. You can ride on cycle tracks which are less crowded, and you can even carry your bike if it’s caught in the traffic.
Biking helps to reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases
It is a proven fact that sedentary lifestyles lead to several diseases, including heart attack, stroke, metabolic syndrome, etc. One sure method to reduce this risk is to go cycling. When you use your bike, you raise your heart rate, the blood pressure is normalized, blood flows to all parts of the body, toxins are washed away, your metabolic rate is increased, and the sensitivity of cells to insulin is increased. All this leads to a reduction of the risk of cardiovascular diseases.So what are you waiting for? Find a bike that suits your body frame and your weight; and one that would be comfortable riding for long hours. Sports bike suited for this purpose will be an ideal option. Make sure that you have a cushion seat, and all the required accessories, and safety features, fitted into the bike.
Ride your way to a healthy lifestyle!
