Five Good Reasons To Go Cycling!
1 – MAKES YOU HAPPIER. John Ratey, a psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School, in his book Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, tells of patients who after a year of “cycloterapia” were greatly improved from severe forms of depression. In other words, scientists who have been studying the benefits of cycling on our brains for years, agree: cycling reduces stress and decreases depression. In a word, it gives happiness.
2 – CONTROL YOUR WEIGHT. Riding a bicycle for 1 hour burns around 500 calories. According to research published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, which studied the beneficial effects of cycling on overweight premenopausal women, one hour of cycling, several times a week, has slimming effects.
3 – REDUCES THE RISK OF HEART DISEASE. Cycling raises your heart rate and gets the blood pumping round your body. As a result, it’s among the types of exercise recommended by the NHS as healthy ways to reduce the risk of developing major illnesses such as heart disease and cancer.
4 – EXTENDS LIFE. The more you ride intensely and the longer life expectancy, especially because you avoid heart disease. This is supported by a Danish study: for women, 2 to 3 years older, and for men, 4 to 5 years older. Even the Tour de France cyclists live on average about 8 years longer than other sportsmen. It is the result of one research published in the International Journal of sport medicine.
5 – IT’S GOOD FOR THE COUNTRY. According to a recent study published by the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the WHO Regional Office for Europe, if the major European cities invested in two wheels and therefore in “green and healthy transport”, over 76,600 people could find work (in bicycle retail, in maintenance, in the supply of clothing and accessories for cyclists). Furthermore, around 10 thousand lives could be saved. If Rome adopted the same model of bike sharing in Copenhagen (Europe’s leading city with 26% of the city transport on two wheels), more than 3,200 new jobs could be created and 154 lives could be saved in a year.
Furthermore…. Charming, intelligent, ecological, selfless and generous. According to a study by the British Heart Foundation, a quarter of British people think that cyclists have all these qualities. In conclusion, the cyclist is the ideal partner, rather than the footballer.