Why more people should cycle to work more often
Cycling to work is a fantastic way to get fit, stay fit and keep healthy. It’s been proven that it’s just as effective for losing weight as exercising at the gym five times a week would be!
No gym membership fees, parking nightmares and traffic, traffic, traffic. The benefits of cycling to work are almost endless. With the combination of this, and the constant rising costs of motoring, it’s really not hard to understand why so many of us are starting to arrive at our workplaces on two wheels more and more often!
Here are a few more reasons why more people should start pedalling to work:
You’ll arrive at work happier (Traffic + parking = stress)
Let’s be honest - sitting in traffic, stopping and starting, navigating through our busy cities or even just sitting in crowded public transport doesn’t really make you think of happiness, does it? That’s why it’s been proven time and time again that biking to work just makes you happier! There’s something about cycling that gives us a buzz. Also, exercise is now being viewed as a common treatment for depression, with four times as many GPs prescribing regular activity as positive therapy.
Burn calories, not cash!
It’s been released that switch to a bike for your journeys to work and you could save over £3000 every year. Think of what you could do with that!
You’ll get to the office even quicker, too
If you bike to work, you might actually find yourself being the first person sat at your desk with a cup of coffee feeling energised and ready for the day ahead! Research conducted by Citroen showed that it took half the time to get to your workplace/home than it took for vehicles. Cycling infrastructure is improving every year with more lanes dedicated to cyclists. It will keep you out of those frustrating traffic jams.
Our friends at the Dublin Cycling Campaign recently ran an experiment using See.Sense data to race through the city centre at peak commuting times to find out which mode of transport was the fastest - the luas, bus, car or bike. Each journey commenced at 08:15 am on a Monday morning. For a distance of 4.4km, it took 43 minutes in a car, 58 minutes by bus and over an hour using the Luas. The cyclists took 23 minutes on average - almost half of the time of every other mode! Check out our full report here to learn more.
Improves your health in SO many ways
You could write a book about the benefits of cycling. Better sleep, increased brain power, boosted immunity and an improvement in your overall appearance are just some of the advantages that have been reported. According to the National Forum for Coronary Heart Disease Foundation in the US, regular cyclists enjoy a fitness level equal to that of a person who is 10 years younger.
Improves the environment
Pollution remains a major problem throughout the world, especially in our towns and cities. Cycling can counter that problem and improve the environment. Cycling doesn’t emit any poisonous fumes or pollutants. The only fuel that you use are the calories you burn in getting those pedals moving. So cycling to work can significantly reduce transportation emissions and also reduce traffic congestion and the need for petroleum.