Cycle for life

The Problem (you know it all too well)

Three factors—tobacco use, poor nutrition, and lack of physical activity—are major contributors to the nation's leading killers. ... Obesity is a major contributor to heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, and some types of cancer. Recent estimates suggest that obesity is associated with 300,000 deaths annually, second only to tobacco related deaths.¹

In the United States, obesity has risen at an epidemic rate over the past 20 years. Poor eating habits and physical inactivity are major contributing factors.²

People who are overweight or obese are at increased risk for

• Congestive heart failure

• Coronary heart disease

• Gallstones

• Gout

• High blood cholesterol

• High blood pressure

• Obstructive sleep apnea and respiratory problems

• Osteoarthritis

• Psychological disorders (such as depression, eating disorders,¹ distorted body image, and low self esteem)

• Some types of cancer (such as endometrial, breast, prostate, and colon)

• Stroke

• Type 2 (non-insulin dependent) diabetes²

Physical activity

• decreases the risk of dying from coronary heart disease

• reduces the risk of developing diabetes, hypertension, and colon cancer

• may help a person lose weight by partially lessening the slow-down in metabolism that occurs during weight loss.

Is there correlation between fitness and longevity?

One third of all deaths due to coronary heart disease, colon cancer and diabetes are caused by physical inactivity. These are the greatest causes of death in the USA²:

• A combination of all causes 34%

• A sedentary lifestyle 33%

• Chronic disease 16%

• Tobacco and alcohol 8%

• High blood pressure and overweight 7%

• Family history 2%

 What is the effect of exercise on specific health problems?

Type II Diabetes

Those with high-risk are helped as follows³:

• less than 500 kCal, 47 deaths per 10,000 years

• less than 2,000 kCal, 35 deaths per 10,000 years

• more than 2,000 kCal, 27 deaths per 10,000 years

Osteoporosis³

Physical activity has been shown to increase bone density, while inactivity decreases it.

Blood lipid and lipo-protein profiles³

• One needs at least 1,000 kCal of exercise a week (2-4 hours)

• Benefits accrue up to 4,500 kCal a week (10-20 hours)

• Exercise and diet have over twice the benefit of diet change alone.

• For lower blood pressure:

Systolic blood pressure⁴

In four weeks, systolic blood pressure of 97 dropped to 88 with three sessions a week and 84 with seven sessions a week. Here are the effects of exercise on blood pressure in men:

• inactive 150/80

• moderate 120/70

• aerobic 60/30

The health benefits of regular exercise include:^{4 & 6}

• Increased cardiovascular fitness

• Increased muscle strength and flexibility

• Improved joint mobility

• Decreased stress levels

• Improved posture

• Strengthened bones

• Decreased body fat levels

• Healthy hearts

Reduces several cardiovascular risks, including high blood pressure. A major study of more than 10,000 people found that those who cycle at least 20 miles a week are half as likely to have heart problems as those who don't cycle at all.

• Weight control

Research suggests we should be burning up at least 2,000 calories a week through exercise (far more than can be burned in the common recommendation of 15 minutes of brisk exercise three times a week); others suggest 66 minutes of exercise a day. This is a large demand on time, but is easily achieved if you turn the business of getting to work or school into your weekly exercise routine. Cycling burns 300 calories an hour, so if you do it twice a day, the numbers soon add up.

• Posture and poise

• Digestion

• Healthy minds

There's no doubt that regular exercise reduces the risk of problems such as depression, stress and anxiety. There's truth in the saying "Run [or cycle!] your cares away."

• Skin

Exercise gives you a glow without the use of expensive creams

• Bones

Because the bicycle supports your body, cycling isn't necessarily a weight-bearing exercise (although this depends on your technique). This means it's good for people with certain bone and joint problems, but it may be less effective for protecting against osteoporosis, although all exercise helps strengthen bones and muscles to some degree.

Riding a bicycle, either freestanding or stationary, is an excellent form of exercise that improves your general health while being gentle on your joints.

If it is so good, why don’t people exercise?

Fitness professionals and home users agree that a
major problem with exercise bikes is boredom.⁷

According to U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher, the number of people at risk of diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and stroke is increasing, and 50% of Americans are overweight.

Fewer than 1 in 3 U.S. adults gets the recommended amount of physical activity, according to The Surgeon General's Call To Action To Prevent and Decrease Overweight and Obesity.

Rather than weight­lifting, TV "aerobics," and ab crunching, we need true aerobic exercises that help strengthen the heart, such as fast walking, cycling, jogging, swimming, rollerblading, skating, and cross­country skiing. The best exercise to change our sedentary habits is the one we can and will do nearly every day.

Two quick reasons are the amount of time spent watching TV and the amount of time spent in motor vehicles, since people only have so much time. When asked why they didn't exercise more, people in Australia gave these three most common answers:⁸

• no time 33%,

• no confidence 23%, and

• no desire 13%.

Why Cycle?

Cycling exercises the heart better than walking without the pounding of jogging.⁹

Cycling on a regular basis¹⁰ ...

• reduces the cholesterol levels in the blood.

• increases the high density lipo-protein/cholesterol ratio in the blood as well.

• reduces the chances of strokes and heart attacks caused by clotting.

• reduces the chances of illnesses caused by high blood pressure.

• is as effective as drugs in reducing high blood pressure.

• makes obesity unlikely thus helping reduce the chances of diabetes.

How much exercise is enough?

Some studies show that short sessions of exercise several times a day are just as effective at burning calories and improving health as one long session.

Exercise does not have to be strenuous to be beneficial.

Most adults should get at least 30 minutes and children should get 60 minutes of moderate physical activity on most, and preferably all, days of the week.

Some medical authorities recommend as little as 20 minutes a day, three times a week, while others recommend 2,000 kCal, which would be at least four times that amount. Most authorities recognize the more exercise the better up to some undetermined point, but many are afraid that if they expect too much, people won't exercise at all. Another reason for lowering the recommendation was due to the damage caused by jogging, a problem cycling does not share.

Regular exercise has worthwhile effects on several cardiovascular risk factors, notably a reduction in blood pressure of 10/8 mm Hg among hypertensive patients¹¹ and of 3/3 mm Hg in normotensive people.¹²

Building walking and cycling into daily life is much more likely to be sustainable in the long term than gym based exercise prescription schemes.¹³

The benefits of regular exercise begins at 800 kCal of exercise a week, but 2,000 kCal is preferred; that is, from two and a half to six hours of exercise a week for the average commuter cyclist.

Exercising longer has some measurable benefits as well. Exercising more than 2,000 kCal a week led to a ²/₃rds reduction in the number of heart attack deaths. The risk of death by heart attack is reduced by 20% by 2,000 kCal of exercise, but 6,000 kCal of exercise will reduce it by over 50%. Beyond that, the benefits level off. (6,000 kCal would be about 18 hours per week of cycling for a touring or commuting cyclist.)

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