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| Cycling Photo by Victor Xok on Unsplash |
Accomplished businesswoman Joanne Trealoff owns the recreational vehicle manufacturer Eclipse RV Inc., where she also serves as vice president and CFO. When not working Joanne Trealoff gets onto her bike and pursues her love for cycling.
Cycling can provide a cyclist with many physical benefits: low blood pressure, improved cholesterol level, well-managed weight, and many others. Psychologists also recommend cycling for a structurally and functionally better brain. Scientists who have conducted studies with cyclists on stationary bikes concluded on the findings in the subsequent paragraphs.
First, cycling improves the brain’s connectivity. Some patients with schizophrenia were engaged in a six-month therapeutic program on stationary bikes. The patients’ brains were scanned as they pedaled the bike and the results revealed that the white matter in their brains increased over time.
Second, cycling increases the brain’s BDNF levels. BDNF stands for brain-derived neurotropic factor, a protein that helps in maintaining existing brain neurons and in producing new ones. BDNF is found to be helpful in warding off some neurologic conditions such as Alzheimer’s. Patients who were placed in stationary bikes for a three-month therapeutic program showed progress in their BDNF levels.
Finally, cycling powers the brain’s reasoning and memory. A study that involved men pedaling stationary bikes for 30 minutes took cognitive tests before and after pedaling. The results revealed that these men got high scores in reasoning, memory and planning. Also, these men finished their tests faster when compared with performance in previous tests.
