The more physical activities you engage in during your golden years, the better it is for your body. If it’s been a while since you last hopped on and pedaled a bicycle, you may be hesitant to tag along when your friends ask you to join them on a bike ride. We have compiled a list of bike riding benefits to encourage you to consider taking your bike out again soon.
Bike Riding Preserves Your Strength
A natural part of aging includes age-related muscle loss, or sarcopenia, where your body begins to lose as much as three to five percent of muscle every decade after age 30. Bike riding benefits you by maintaining and preserving your muscle strength. Since bike riding is a full-body workout, instead of focusing only on strengthening your leg muscles, you can expect increased strength in your core and arms as well after a few weeks of biking on a regular basis.
Improve Your Heart Health with Bike Riding
As a form of cardiovascular exercise, bike riding benefits you in many ways – lowering your risk of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and blood pressure, as well as increasing your stamina. When you perform any aerobic activity, your body requires more oxygen for you to keep going. This makes your heart pump faster to transport sufficient oxygen to the cells throughout your body for more energy.
Delay Onset or Progression of Dementia
Did you know that keeping the mind stimulated is critical to delaying the onset or progression of dementia and other memory-related conditions? Physical activity like bike riding benefits you by keeping your brain engaged and sharp. Studies have proven that physical activity reduces the levels of tau, a protein linked to Alzheimer’s disease, in the brains of individuals.
Bike Riding for Social Engagement
As people age, it becomes easier to be haunted by loneliness as their social circle naturally shrinks. Friends and family members move away, pass on from illnesses, or you simply grow apart from them. Bike riding benefits older adults by offering a social component that supports mental health. It is an exciting shared activity to do in groups – whether it’s with your closest friends or in a club that encourages cycling for older individuals. On top of receiving the great health benefits of this physical activity, you also get an opportunity to forge meaningful friendships with people who share the same interest as you.
Bike Riding Improves Balance
Falls can become a grave concern the older you grow, they can even be fatal. This is why it is so important for older adults to improve their core muscles and build on their sense of balance to reduce the risks of serious accidents in the first place.
Why Choose The Summit?
The Summit offers a range of senior living options – Senior Respite Care, SHINE® Memory Care, Senior Assisted Living and Independent Senior Living to meet the needs of all our residents. No matter which option you choose, you can expect to be treated with utmost care and respect while realizing your dream retirement lifestyle.
If you have any inquiries about our services, feel free to contact us today.
