5 ways cycling can help improve your mental health 

All exercise is good for your mental health but there is nothing quite like getting out on a bike and into the open air to feel a sense of clarity. With recent events having a major impact on everyone’s mental health, people are turning to exercise as a way to tackle those inner demons. If you’re looking for an approach that doesn’t just challenge you physically, but actually involves getting out into the great wide open and working through different physical and emotional elements, cycling could be the one to beat them all. But how can cycling improve your mental health?

It Gets You Outdoors

If you’re looking for a distinct advantage over those that have been stuck indoors doing their squats and press-ups, going outdoors helps you to feel energized and revitalised in a completely different way to those gym bunnies. Going outdoors has been shown to reduce feelings of anger and tension. It’s also the perfect way to go somewhere for the day away from all of your troubles. Pack up your cycling water bottle and a few supplies, and it’s possible to escape your worries in the short-term while also getting adequate Vitamin D, and being out in the air oxygenates your blood.

The Social Aspects Of Cycling And Their Impacts On Happiness

Social activities are shown to be beneficial to everyone’s mental health. While team sports have been shown to be the best approach for improving mental health, riding a bike comes close behind. If you can go riding in a group of friends and turn it into a team sport, you’re on to a winner! On the other hand, riding with your family in the open air helps everyone to spend quality time together.

Aerobic Exercise And Its Effects On Anxiety

Naturally, riding a bike is one of the best forms of aerobic exercise. But aerobic exercise has been shown to significantly reduce feelings of anxiety. If you are someone who feels the tension in every area of your life getting on the bike could stop this anxiety from spiralling into a panic attack. While any type of aerobic exercise works wonders, the advantage of getting on a bike is that rather than running, which is a high impact sport, riding a bike is easier on your joints.

It Is A Massive Stress Buster

It’s easy to say we all suffer from stress in various aspects of our lives. When we look at getting fit as a stress buster, many people take to the gym. But riding a bike on a regular basis is a stress buster all in itself. Because cycling in the long term can be cheaper than a gym membership this can minimize financial stress, but also getting on your bike for thirty minutes each day has been shown to improve positive outlook by flooding your body with endorphins. As a natural by-product of feeling less stressed, you have more focus, improve memory, and clarity which can help you to feel positive in other areas of your life.

You Can Fit It Into Your Daily Life

Many of us feel that we’re not able to make time for working out. One of the great ways that getting a bike can help your mental health is that you don’t need to add an extra duty into your life. We feel that we’ve got so many things to do and not enough time to do it in; riding a bike is one of the easy ways to incorporate exercise into a daily routine without disrupting your life. If you dread that daily commute to the office, swapping it for a bike ride will reduce your feeling of stress while making exercise a regular part of your lifestyle. When it becomes a daily habit this will improve your well-being in so many different ways. When we incorporate riding a bike into our daily practice, we’re adding an extra piece of structure that can help us to retain a sense of control over the anxious components of our lives.

Exercise has the power to improve our happiness and right now as many people are working on improving their mental health or are looking for ways to feel good in a troubling time, getting on your bike every day can reduce stress. In turn, the exercise will not just flood your body with endorphins, but it can help you to sleep better. For those people who are feeling stress and anxiety, the solution is simple; get on your bike! 

Guest Post By Alex Bristol of