You may have heard some traditional cyclists calling riding an electric bike “cheating”, but the fact is that e-bikes have numerous advantages including being one of the best, cheapest, and most eco-friendly vehicles for daily commutes, running errands, grocery shopping, and also for travel.
One of the other advantages of riding an electric bike is often underestimated – the health benefits it has.
Here are 5 of the most important health benefits of riding an electric bike
1. It will help you lead a more active lifestyle
This is especially true if you are used to using your car for commuting and forgetting to just about anywhere. For people who lead a mostly sedentary lifestyle either due to personal choice, their age, their overall lack of motivation, or for health-related reasons, getting on an electric bike can make a whole lot of a difference.
It does have battery and motor assistance, but you still will need to do some pedaling, steering, and balancing when riding it, and these are all physical exercises that your body will appreciate.
So, even if you use the assistance of the motor when riding uphill or when you feel like you need to speed up, during the rest of the time you will be pedaling which is an excellent low impact exercise.
By riding an e-bike to work, or going to the grocery store to do some shopping, you will be performing physical activity. This means that you will be burning calories, toning your body, strengthening the muscles, bones, and joints, losing extra weight, lowering the risk of various serious diseases and health issues, and you will become a much fitter and healthier person than you used to be.
2. Aerobic exercise lowers the risk of the most common illnesses of the 21st century
As stated above, riding an electric bike is an excellent way to get your daily and weekly recommended amount of aerobic exercise. The government has recommended that people spend an average of 2.1 hours engaged in moderate or 1.5 hours in vigorous aerobic activity in order to reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, depression, and cancer.
The explanation behind this recommendation is that these serious conditions which are the leading causes of death in the western world are mostly caused by obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, and other factors, which are often a result of being sedentary and eating an improper diet.
If you start riding your e-bike every day, or just several times a week, you will start losing weight, and as a result, your blood pressure and your bad cholesterol will hopefully come down to normal and healthy levels.
Riding a bike will help you burn calories and fat, so if you combine regular riding with a sensible diet, you can easily lose any extra weight you are carrying and become leaner, stronger, and much healthier and self-confident.
3. Your muscles, joints, and bones will become stronger
Electric bikes have heavier frames than regular bikes because they need to be able to carry the weight of a battery and motor and because they need to be safe when riding at high speed. This means that when you ride your e-bike without the assistance of the motor, you will be putting more effort into pedaling and steering. This will help you tone and strengthen your muscles and will also help improve the strength and health of your joints and bones as well. Moreover, cycling is considered a low-impact physical activity, so you will be improving the health of your musculoskeletal structure without risking injuries which are common in high-impact sports and workouts.
4. Your mental health and confidence levels will improve
As soon as you start riding an electric bike you will be amazed by the sheer joy of being able to get to your destination without frustration and sweat. Riding at a higher speed, without so much effort, and being able to enjoy the view and the fresh breeze is something that all e-bikers love. This is one of the main reasons why people choose to ride an electric bike more often than they would regular bicycles.
As you start riding more and covering larger distances your confidence levels will rise, especially if you have previously felt doubtful about being able to cycle at all.
With an electric bike, you will start believing in yourself and your physical abilities more. Also, the endorphins from the physical exercise will help release the stress, and can even help you deal with mild depression or anxiety.
5. Your respiratory and cardiovascular health will improve
According to studies, e-bike riders use about 51% of their lung capacities, and traditional cyclists use 58%. As you can see there is not such a drastic difference between the two.
Also, when riding an electric bike, your heart rate will increase, and your blood will pump to your organs more intensively. It is a cardio exercise that is superb for improving the health of your heart and your entire cardiovascular system. This means lowering the risk of serious and often fatal health issues such as stroke, heart attacks, and others.
Final words
As you can see, riding an e-bike is not necessarily cheating. In fact, it can help you seriously improve your physical and your mental health, especially if you do not exercise regularly due to your age, your health problems, or the overall lack of motivation.
You will quickly regain the confidence you once lacked to go out cycling or exercising with a motor-assisted bike.
It will help you perform the recommended daily and weekly cardio and aerobic exercise to lower your risk of serious health issues.
An electric bike will get you to go outside more, enjoy the fresh air, and meet up with other cycler friends, and at the same time will help you lose weight, strengthen your body, improve your fitness level, and do wonders for your physical and mental wellbeing.
Last but not least – riding an electric bike is so much fun, that you won’t be able to get enough of it once you start riding one.
