How Cycling Can Benefit You
Author: Marcus Peter
There is no debating the fact that cycling is perhaps one of the best ways to commute smaller distances considering the health and environmental benefits it offers. We all know that cycles produce no carbon dioxide or other harmful emissions, are easy to park, produce no noise, are easy to maintain and can help rev up your health. But apart from these obvious advantages there are many other far-reaching benefits that cycling has to offer. Let’s look at a few of them here.
1.) Biking burns calories: It does not take gas to run a bike. The only fuel that cycling burns is your own calories! The more you ride your bike the more calories you burn and the more fuel you save. This directly helps you save more. So if you look at it, the benefits here are three fold. You save money, improve your health and help the environment at the same time.
2.) Helps reduce noise pollution: Although modern cars produce very less noise a collection of cars can raise the noise levels significantly especially given rush-hour conditions where the noise increases also because of the honking. Road bikes on the other hand produce no noise and there is no way they can lead to a traffic jam situation.
3.) Cycling helps you reach your destination faster: Believe it or not, cycling can help you reach your destination faster as compared to a car given a traffic jam or rush hour situation. Cycles have an advantage of moving faster through stagnant traffic helping you reduce your commute stress and time.
4.) Cycling can make you forget your sorrows: You heard that right. Cycling can help you forget your sorrows. How you ask? Cycling like any other forms of exercise helps increase the levels of endorphins in your body. Endorphins are euphoria producing hormones that help you get a sense of wellbeing by boosting your mood.
5.) Helps you appreciate nature: While commuting in a car we tend to miss out on so much that mother nature has to offer. There is no way someone commuting in a car can enjoy the scenery around him. Cycling on the other hand helps you experience the beauty of the locales. You can smell the nature around you, be it the fertile damp earth, the flowering trees or newly mown grass.
6.) You get to make new friends: Fellow cyclists can make great friends given the fact that they are sure to have similar thoughts as you do towards protecting the environment and staying healthy. A survey among cyclists reveals that deep friendships often result among cycling enthusiast because of the common ground they share.
7.) Cycles are easier to manufacture and maintain: Cycles can be manufactured with a fraction of elements required to manufacture a car. This is another reason why cycles are eco friendly. They are also a lot easier to maintain as compared to a car.
These are just a few of the many benefits that cycling has to offer. So if you have still not got yourself a bike, it is high time you start thinking about getting one.
Tags: biking, burn calories, cycling, healthy, well-being