Bicycles & Health
By Dr. Oren Gersten
If you’ve ever ridden a bike, then you know there is nothing quite like the feeling of rolling down a street or trail in the open air. It’s a level of freedom and connection that doesn’t happen in a car. In addition to enjoyment, there are some interesting and unexpected ways in which bikes can help benefit personal and community health.
1. Safer Transportation Infrastructure
Riding in cars is an inherently dangerous activity. Globally, car crashes are the leading cause of death for young people (cdc.gov). Riding bicycles is not without risk. However, as cities change their infrastructure from being car centric to including safe walking, biking, and public transit options, the streets become safer for everyone.
2. Cleaner Air
Living near a highway is a risk factor for developing asthma. Bikes do not create any emissions, which helps keep our air cleaner.
3. Jobs available to a diversity of people
Sales, repair, education, tourism, trail building, city planning are all examples of green jobs created around bikes. These jobs are available to wider range of ages and abilities than some other sectors which require higher education.
4. Cost Savings
The cost of owning and maintaining a bike is miniscule when compared to owning a car and filling it with gas. And the money saved by using a bike can be redirected to other health activities: healthy food, entertainment, vacation just to name a few.
5. Physical Fitness
National exercise guidelines recommend at least 150 minutes per week of moderate intensity physical activity for adults, and more for children. For many folks with sedentary jobs finding the time to exercise can be a major barrier to meeting these guidelines. Biking for transportation allows people to build physical activity into their day. If someone’s bike commute is fifteen minutes and they bike to work five days a week they have met the exercise goal! Even biking to work or school once per week can put a good dent in the weekly physical activity quota.
Bicycles and your health
If you are interested in getting into biking but have questions or are looking for resources, check out www.bikemaine.org which is a great resource with good educational materials.
Oren Gersten is a board-certified family doctor. He brings his passion for connecting and caring to his private practice, Portland Direct Primary Care in South Portland. Reach him at (207) 618-9792 or visit PortlandDirectCare.com.
