Cycling positively changes and prolongs our lives

We encourage children to move outdoors. Doctors advise us to cycle to prevent a range of health problems and illnesses. Cycling is one of the things that helps on many fronts: transport, our health, and the environment. And also a pleasant routine that can change your life once and for all.

The many health benefits of cycling, including a stronger heart and weight loss, are sort of obvious to everyone. Besides, it is scientifically proven to help those suffering from mental health problems as well. In some cases even more than sessions with psychotherapists. But what you may not know is that cycling can do more for our bodies than we ever dared to think. The reality is that just a few hours a week in the saddle can have a profoundly positive effect on our immune system and life expectancy. Just 30 minutes of cycling a day raise the quality of our lives and allows us to age more healthily and with dignity.

Retirees with young blood

The immune system does not thrive on stress, and it is this that cycling helps to successfully relieve. Scientists have recently discovered that cycling even has an effect at the cellular level. A British study focused on so-called T-cells or T-lymphocytes. These are the essence of acquired cellular immunity, fighting tumors, infections, and viral diseases. The researchers involved 125 cyclists aged 59 to 82. They took blood samples from them and compared their T-lymphocyte levels with two other groups of people: non-athletes in the same age group and then with people aged 20 to 36. The comparison yielded surprising results. The older cyclists were just like the younger group in terms of body fat, immune system strength, and T-lymphocyte levels.

How to stop time?

What further surprised the researchers about the cyclists was their thymus gland. This organ usually shrinks with age, but in the subjects studied at an advanced age, it was the size of a 20-year-old’s thymus. This may explain the participants’ high T-lymphocyte levels and overall physical fitness. Study author Professor Janet Lord told the BBC, “The immune system deteriorates by 2-3% each year in adulthood. This is why older people are more susceptible to infections, arthritis, and cancer. Cyclists who have the immune system of 20-year-olds in their seventies or eighties are better protected against these ailments.”  So if you spend a few hours a week in the saddle of a bicycle, you will increase your immunity and life expectancy and slow down the aging process.

Do you want to be young forever? Ride a bike!

No matter when you start

It’s never too late to make a change that has the potential to transform your life for the better. Especially when it can extend your life. You don’t need to ride the Tour de France to see results, you just need to be consistent. You’ll see and, more importantly, feel the change after just a month or two in the saddle.  Even another study, published on the Cell Metabolism website, concluded that vigorous aerobic exercise, combining high-intensity activity with restful relaxation phases, i.e. cycling, has an anti-aging effect. Two groups of people took part in the research. One between the ages of 18 and 30 and the other between 65 and 80. The participants were given the task of practicing a series of high-intensity aerobic exercises for three months. The researchers then measured their effect by collecting and analyzing muscle biopsies in the before and after periods. The results showed that exercise increased muscle mitochondrial activity. Mitochondria are usually described as the “powerhouses” of cells because they produce and distribute energy rapidly. The fact that high-intensity aerobic exercise improves mitochondrial activity means that it makes the body produce energy faster and also regenerate.