Cycling for Health and Weight Loss

Cycling is a fun, low-impact form of exercise that can improve nearly all aspects of health, and take you to new places too -- even trade cyclists (Fabian Cancellara, shown), stop to enjoy the views. Photo courtesy Cyclesport Magazine.

Cycling is a low-impact activity that almost anyone can do, and do for life. It is not only easy on the joints, but actually helps keep them healthy and improves overall health as well. When cycling workouts are performed on a well-fit stationery or outdoor bike and done in accordance with sound principles of exercise science, cycling can help keep you healthy or return you to good health! Cycling will help you achieve optimal body weight, prevent or treat health risk factors from high blood pressure to diabetes and even some cancers, and it's fun. This week, we present a review of the research that shows the positive links between cycling and health -- and next week, we have a special lecture presented by Aishea Maas, Phase IV Director of Science, for anyone who wants to get started on a cycling program for health, fitness, and weight loss.

by P. Oja, S. Titze, A. Bauman, B. de Geus, P. Krenn, B. Reger-Nash, T. Kohlberger

Conclusions

Overall, this review and evaluation of studies on cycling and health revealed relatively large numbers and diverse types of cycling-specific studies. They were consistent in showing a positive relationship between cycling and health and functional benefits in young boys and girls and improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness and disease risk factors as well as significant risk reduction for all-cause and cancer mortality and for cardiovascular, cancer, and obesity morbidity in middle-aged and elderly men and women. The rigid clinical-type rating of this evidence showed it to be at best of strong to moderate strength and mostly inconclusive, although the bulk of the evidence comes from large prospective epidemiological studies, which are usually used as sufficient indication for public health policy actions. While more robust research is needed to build a solid evidence base of the health benefits of cycling, the existing state of knowledge reinforces the current public health efforts to promote cycling as an important contributor to improving population health.

Perspectives

Cycling represents a potentially powerful way to meet the recommended levels of physical activity for many populations. It is important to base current and future interventions on up-to-date evidence of the health benefits specific to cycling. Until recently, the knowledge of the health benefits of cycling has been mostly based on studies of commuting physical activity. As cycling was typically addressed together with walking, it was not possible to tease out the cycling-specific health effects. This review identified several new studies focusing on cycling-specific health outcomes. These studies are mostly of good quality. The findings, which demonstrate a consistent dose-response for improved function and health, provide strong support for the promotion of cycling for public health.

>> Read the full article here