10 Reasons Why You Should Cycle to Work

10 Reasons Why You Should Cycle to Work

 There are thousands of people all over the UK that enjoy the pleasures of riding a bike, yet, it is staggering how little of our population in the UK actively cycle on a daily basis, whether that be for downtime, or your commute to work or to take your children to school. 

But we think this could change if people really knew the benefits that cycling can have on both your physical AND mental health! It’s time to ditch the car keys and pick up your helmet! Below you will find our top 10 reasons why you should be cycling to work today!

Let’s Look at The Stats

In official reports carried out in 2017 in the UK, these were the findings:

  • A huge 71% of the population surveyed admitted they never cycle at all these days.
  • Only 42% of people (aged 5+) own or have access to a bike.
  • 4% of commute trips are made via cycling.
  • Between April 2017 and March 2018, there were an estimated 288,000 incidents of bicycle theft.

 

Power Your General Health  

With it being said that it only takes around two to four hours of exercise a week to improve your general health, there really is no excuse to not get on your bike and enjoy a bike ride from time to time. Whether you ride to the local shops to pick up this evening’s dinner, or you switch up your morning commute to work, it can have substantial benefits on your general, physical health. These can include; increased cardiovascular fitness, improve your joint mobility, improve your posture.

Low Impact, High Return

You will find that gentle exercise in the form of cycling is great for lowering health risks and improving your general physical fitness as firstly it is one of the easiest sports, once you learn how to ride a bike, you never forget. It is low impact exercise which ultimately results in less strain on the body, it provides a good muscle workout leaning your legs, bum and stomach and working for all muscle groups as you pedal. And it is good for building stamina and strength over time.

Give Your Mental Health a Boost

Looking after your personal mental health can be as easy as you prefer. Cycling is an incredibly easy yet effective way of taking care of your mental health. A gentle exercise like such can have astounding benefits on your mental health, taking a little chunk of your day to work on yourself and focusing solely on yourself. 

Stress Relief

You will notice a relieving source for stress – stress can be the main factor of contributing to health problems both externally and internally as well as mentally, causing anxiety and depression. Cycling reduces levels of cortisol, also known as the stress hormone.

Improve Sleeping Habits

Regular cycling is known to benefit your sleeping habits, as the movement of the exercise will leave your body feeling tired which of course is the main contributor to sleep, however, it encourages a release of Human Growth Hormone into your bloodstream while you are sleeping.

Higher self-esteem and energy

Higher self-esteem and energy levels can be benefited by cycling on the regular, as being on the move and increasing your heart rate gives you that little extra motivation you have been looking for to get through your day’s tasks, and when you work out it aids strength and feel-good factor within, ultimately boosting your general mood and confidence.

Turn You Into Einstein 

Not exactly! However, regular exercise has been proven to help with your cognitive health (brainpower). According to Harvard Medical School, regular exercise can help with memory and thinking both direct and indirectly. Directly, exercise helps with releasing chemicals in your brain that affect the health of brain cells and allowing new blood vessels to grow. Indirectly, exercise will help with your mental health, mood and sleep.

Financial Freedom

This one is pretty obvious, but cycling to work helps to improve your financial situation by being absolutely FREE. That’s right, no petrol costs, general MOT or service maintenance, just hop on your bike, pop on your helmet and off you go!

Time Efficient 

Cycling can be an incredibly time-efficient form of transport for you. When you decide to take the car to work, you could run into the unavoidable rush hour traffic, therefore sitting at traffic lights and roundabouts for a substantial amount of time in the morning, wasting valuable time of your day. Cycling to work has been made even easier and safer these days with the brand new and more popular cycle lanes aiding you to beat the rush.

Fun

There is denying it. Cycling in its purest form is incredibly fun. We all have childhood memories of riding our bikes around our neighbourhood with friends, with not a care in the world. Cycling to work is one of the simplest ways to re-integrate that carefree feeling back into your daily commute. 

Tackling the Risk of Bicycle Theft

With a staggering 288,000 incidents of bicycle theft occurring between 2017-2018, Miko Shelter Solutions have an extensive range of bicycle shelters and storage products that we can offer and design you to ensure that your cycling equipment is kept safe and secure. We can offer you:

 

Contact Us

If you are taking motivation from us this summertime and opting for your bike rather than your car, then don’t hesitate to get in touch and give us a call on 0191 428 0452 to discuss your cycle storage solutions, or arrange a bespoke solution to store your cycling equipment to upmost safety.