As your age grows day by day, it becomes more challenging to keep yourself healthy and fit. Your muscles and bones’ skeleton decline the strength you have in your earlier ages; this brings muscle weakness along with aches and pains. This prevents your desire to exercise.
The benefits of biking for senior citizens are the question here. Cycling is the best option to become healthy and fit for older bodies. Well, cycling is a low-impact workout. Paddling is favorable for your cardiovascular system, and the immune system stabilizes your testosterone levels, constant your body fat, and improves your cholesterol levels to make you a healthy person.
Biking is an excellent activity for seniors as it can provide many health benefits. One benefit is improved aerobic capacity – which is the maximum oxygen intake during exercise. This can result in better stamina and lower heart rates during everyday activities. Also, biking strengthens muscles and joints all over the body, which may help with arthritis pain and other chronic conditions.
Cycling slows down the aging progression. A recent study on people aged 55 to 59 concluded a few things. First, the study said that the muscle mass decline rate of cyclists of those ages was much lower than those who were not cyclists or into exercise regularly.
In other words, we see a superior result in a group of cyclists. The decline rate of muscle cells relevant to aging is protected, and it may not be wrong to say that they are ever reversed.
This article has compiled 14 health benefits of biking for senior citizens, along with tips for safe cycling.
Table of Contents
5 Benefits Of Bike Riding For Seniors To Remain Safe While Cycling
As your age grows, your mobility or movement becomes low. Typically arthritis is one condition that comes before you and makes a full stop to your exercise routine. Cycling is an excellent option to maintain your heart rate. In addition, we have gathered some valuable and practical tips for you to remain safe during cycling.
1. Knee protection
Knee protection is an important thing to consider during cycling. If your knees are well protected during cycling, you can paddle with more power and prevent yourself from aching after the ride.
Here are some guidelines that you should follow to prevent your knees;
- You should adjust your bike’s seat to a height where you need to bend the knees slightly.
- To reduce the strain on your knees, you should ride in lower gear.
- Do not lean your knees inward or outwards; rather, keep them straight.
Sitting more closely to the handlebar changes the angle of the knee. This causes cartilage problems, mainly if you have had inflammation before.
2. Maintain your bike in good condition
A professional-level examination and maintenance of your bike are sufficient to prevent accidents from happening. Make sure your bike is in perfect condition when you ride.
If you have a 90’s century bike, you should consider purchasing a new one. New model bikes are much lighter in weight and easy to move.
3. Ride with companions
Cycling is a way to socialize as well. Social interaction boosts your confidence and helps you discover a next-level life as you age.
Consider joining a bike club. You’ll meet new people and find more motivation to improve your biking skills. This will bring a positive impact on your body’s health and your mental health.
4. Don’t rush while cycling
Don’t push the paddles too hard when you are on a bike. Always choose a planned track instead of a hard road.
You can increase your forbearance by increasing your distance, effort, and speed day by day.
But you have to put a limitation on this increase to prevent yourself from the harsh effects of overdoing it.
5. Be aware of road rush
Rules are the same for all, for your safety. No matter what’s your gender and how old you are.
You should follow the rules and also you have to keep an eye on obstacles. If you face a visionary issue, consult with your ophthalmologist regularly, use glasses or contact lenses, and ensure your vision.
Uses of particular bike paths separate from the roadway are the best solution to remain safe. Always choose a concrete road for a smooth ride instead of mudded courses.
10 Health Benefits of Bicycle Riding
1. Cycling improves mental health
As your age grows, your life is at risk of cognitive degenerative disease, which brings loneliness, boredom, anxiety, and depression. Your mental health declines with an increase in your age, just like your physical health.
Cycling is the best option for mental health care. Enjoy your ride with natural vitamin D in sunlight, and fresh air improves your mood and releases stress from your mind. In addition, difficulty in sleeping is one of the significant issues seen in senior citizens. Cycling in the fresh air helps to improve your sleep quantity.
The research concluded that to release depression from your mind, you need to exercise for at least 08 weeks. Make a routine of cycling and start enjoying the benefits.
2. Beneficial for your immune system
Cycling is a unique way to fight weird bugs in your immune system. According to research, when you cross your age to 20, your thymus organ starts shrinking, and your immune system starts to decline to almost 3% per year. When you reach middle age, it drops downs to 15%.
3. Beneficial For Healthy Respiratory System
Cycling helps flush the bacteria from your lungs and reduces the significant risks of flu and cold. In addition, research proved that cyclists aged in the 80s produced T-cells like a 20 years old child. His immune system is perfectly okay and is functioning accurately because of his cycling routine.
4. Less joint stress
Senior citizens can’t walk or run too long because these activities stress their injured joints. While cycling is an exercise that points to much lower pressure on joints. Running and walking can put bodyweight on your knees, which leads to stress on your joints.
5. Strengthening of muscles
Cycling helps strengthen your knee muscles and lessen the chances of injury. As you know, if a person gets a knee replacement, he uses a stationary bike for almost two weeks after the surgery to enhance the mobility of his newly implanted knee.
6. Body Weight remains controlled
Cycling is a moderate process to burn calories around 355 in 30 minutes. It only depends on your weight and cycling speed.
You will boost your metabolism during cycling, which helps burn calories even when you are done with riding. It’s the best cardio exercise; the more calories you burn, the more weight you lose.
7. Dropdown your cholesterol levels
Paddling helps a lot to reduce your cholesterol level.
Compared to cholesterol control medicines, cycling is the best option to restore your cholesterol levels and keep them at a station.
8. Cyclists could maintain a good memory
Cycling is an ideal activity for senior citizens who are facing memory issues.
During cycling, your whole body works at its highest capacity.
This ensures that the oxygen level fully reaches the brain, and it’s a tonic for your hippocampus (memory controller).
9. Reduces cancer risk
In the United States, obesity is one of the significant causes of cancer. Cancer research center UK now stated that obesity leave behind smoking as a cause of cancer.
Due to the cycling routine, you lose excess body and remain healthy. It’s an important factor to stay safe from this dreadful disease for a long time.
10. Beneficial for your sexual life
As you become a senior, you become less sexual as well. It’s just because your body declines the hormone rate required for going sexual. Health experts say that an older man engaged with cycling can maintain 30% more activeness in his sexual life than one who doesn’t cycle at all. In addition, females can delay menopause for at least 05 years with cycling.
11. Prevent Type-2 diabetes
One of the leading causes of type-2 diabetes is the absence of physical activities in our life. For example, older people who take exercise on a cycle for 30 minutes can quickly drop the risk of type-2 diabetes by more than 35% compared to those unaware of cycling.
12. Boost your Self-Esteem
Exercise such as cycling helps improve older people’s confidence levels and self-esteem. Cycling in your routine daily release a mixture of hormones. These good hormones will help you upgrade your mood swings by keeping you fresh and happy.
13. The faster recovery process from the pain
Osteoarthritis and knee pain is joint in seniors. Moderate cycling is a much faster recovery process for them. Even movement of the legs like paddling for a few minutes a day can help you relieve pain.
14. Built strength and stamina
You don’t need to be an athlete for health benefits. You can easily enjoy the benefits by just cycling on flat land at a low pace.
Cycling is a whole-body workout. Most people think that cycling is an exercise of your legs only. It’s just a myth. Seniors can shape up their bodies and remain healthy by cycling. This will increase their strength and stamina too.
Bike Riding For Seniors – Which Bike for Seniors Are The Best For Bike Riding
When visiting a bike shop as a senior, it can be daunting for you to find the right bicycle. However, from all the different bikes on the market today, the electric bike and cruiser bikes tend to be the overall best for seniors to add to their list.
The electric bike provides the individual with an additional engine when riding a bicycle. Instead of having to constantly pedal, older adults can experience all the benefits of bike riding and when they tire, they simply activate the electric feature. This would propel them forward consistently and ensure that the new bike would provide a helpful hand.
For seniors over 60, the traditional bike might not cut it. If you want to ride a bike, you need to focus heavily on the type of bike to ensure that it works for all your needs. Even the recumbent bike would be functional for riders to ensure that they simply start and get used to the overall functionality.
In essence, when selecting a bicycle for seniors, you should purchase a bike that offers you the comfort you desire and ensures that you have some support at certain times. Cycling is one of the best ways to get in shape and would be great for improving your fitness and overall health.
Which Type Of Bike Should You Choose In Your Senior Year?
When thinking of the best bicycles for seniors, you would often think that it needs to be something slow or stationary. Whilst this would be beneficial when cycling for the first time in years, it might become boring very quickly.
I have learned that every cycling adventure should be fun and senior cycling should be something that can be enjoyable with numerous friends. For this reason, electric and city bikes are some of my favorites when it comes to providing value and quality for senior citizens. You can ride without the need for fitness and the electric bike is definitely something that should offer you more than enough value for your money.
We have already mentioned this, but visiting your local bike shop is a great way for you to get started and should allow you to consult with experts, who would give you advice. Keep in mind that cycling is not easy for everyone and if you don’t have any lifelong experience, it could be a frustrating process, which requires plenty of persistence.
Buying A Bike For A Senior – Should You Purchase a Bike Online Or At The Shop
Ultimately, this would come down to what you feel the most comfortable buying. Online might be a bit harder due to the differences in bikes and sizing. You might want to visit your local bike shop if you are to ensure you get the perfect option.
Biking for Seniors Conclusion
Biking is a way to get exercise and stay healthy. Biking has many benefits for seniors.
It is an excellent source of exercise that keeps them active and healthy.
It is also a great way to explore their environment, socialize with friends, and keep their brains active.
Biking can be very safe if the rider uses the right gear and follows safety precautions.
Hi Martin
That was definitely for useful, much appreciated thanks. I have moved to istanbul I am 61 next month and I will be riding a bike for pleasure, fitness and mental health, I haven’t rode a bike for more than 30 years but I believe it won’t be an issue, electric bikes will be my second choice as they are more expensive but I will have a proper one from decathlon store near by.
Thank you once again all the best