Men Who Bike are Healthier

In a totally unsurprising new study conducted by the University of North Caroline at Chapel Hill, men who ride their bikes or walk to work are more likely to have a healthy blood pressure and less likely to be obese.

The study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, didn’t find anything to report about women—but odds are that women who walk or bike to work probably get some benefit too, don’ t you think?

Penny Gordon-Larson, associate professor of nutrition and the lead author of the study, says, “Even if you adjust for other forms of physical activity, walking or biking to work really does add an additional benefit.”

When they publish studies like these, I always have to wonder—who decided that such a study was needed? Do we really need proof that moving your butt is better for you than driving it to work every day? If I had been conducting the study, I think I would have just taken pictures of 100 random people driving their cars and 100 random people riding their bikes and walking to work and then compared them.

I bet the bike-riders and walkers would be healthier, don’t you? Of course, plenty of car-drivers are probably in shape as well, but with two-thirds of the population being overweight and only 17% of the population walking or biking to work, I think the odds are in the non-drivers’ favor.

Of course, the bikers and walkers studied could also already work out heavily at home to begin with, which could render the study useless, right? If they care about their health and keep themselves active, they’re probably not going to be obese.

Biking has its advantages, study or none. It can reduce the risk of heart disease and diabetes, as well as the high blood pressure and obesity mentioned in the study. New cyclists may even be able to reduce their risk of death by up to 22%.

Biking can help you lose weight, with an hour of biking burning about 300 calories. It can combat depression and raise self-esteem, too. Perhaps the scientists who conducted the study above already knew that biking to and from work for 15 minutes each trip, five times a week, can even burn off 11 pounds of fat annually.

Do you bike? Is it for fun or for exercise? Have you lost weight by biking? Be sure to share your story here at Bicycle Report.