(Credit: Adobe Stock)

Cycling is a time-tested and accessible form of exercise that keeps millions of people healthy every year. While we tend to skew towards and analyze the physical benefits of activities like cycling, there are countless mental benefits, as well. The links between cycling and mental health are strong and profound, for reasons you might not expect. Let’s explore some of them together.

The Importance of Mental Health

Mental health is your emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It influences how you think, feel, and act, and also helps determine how you handle stress, relate to others, and make decisions. Mental health is essential at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood and old-age. 

If you think of your life-sustaining needs in the form of a hierarchy, you would probably put at the top your breathing/respiration, then mastication (eating/drinking), followed by your senses (vision > hearing > touch > etc.)...but what about mental health? 

Your mental health would be a floating feature in this hierarchy. You can be sad, and not feel good about yourself, but if you can breathe and eat, you can survive. However, if you become severely depressed, completely nihilistic, and see no more reason to live…mental health can jump everything in that hierarchy, and result in a tragic loss of life.

This perspective is given to stress the importance of mental health. It is something that has received more airtime recently, and for good reason. Managing and optimizing it effectively is something that takes a dedicated effort, and a comprehensive set of tools to help you do so. One of those tools is the reason we’re all here; cycling.

(Credit: Adobe Stock)

Mental Health & Cycling

Cycling has one of the lowest barriers to entry when it comes to physical activity, and it’s exercise in general that is incredibly beneficial for one’s mental health. Engaging in regular physical activity lowers cortisol (stress hormone) levels, releases good-feel endorphins, raises serotonin (boosting your mood), and keeps you in shape, among innumerable other benefits.

All of these things (and more, which we’ll touch on shortly) contribute to positive states of mental health. 

Let’s look at how cycling can, and always will, be an abundant part of this equation. Let’s learn how the sport we love can serve us for the betterment of our well-being, now, and for the rest of our lives.

Improved Circulation & Brain Health

Cardiovascular activity, like cycling, is the #1 means of preserving cognition into old age (85+ years). It makes people more mentally agile, and increases the ability to shift their thinking, when necessary. You can imagine how this would help you adapt to stress and changes in life circumstances as you grow older. It keeps our outlooks healthy, positive, and encouraged across time.

Therapeutic Power of Nature

Exposure to green spaces, natural scenery, and nature in general has been proven to improve mental health outcomes. One of the great things about cycling is that it gets us outdoors into these natural environments more often. It literally puts us back where we belong (surprise, we don’t belong in stuffy offices and temperature-controlled homes). Humans like to separate themselves from nature, when we are in fact a part of it. 

(Credit: Adobe Stock)

Repetitive Movement

One aspect of cycling that people forget to pay attention to is its repetitive movements (via pedaling). Cycling has a rhythmic and repetitive nature, and can be almost meditative in its quality. It helps to distract the mind from worries, and induce a state of flow. As the body finds a steady cadence, the mind often follows, leading to decreased anxiety levels and a more relaxed mental state that you can carry with you throughout the day.

Mental Health and Menstrual Cycle

For women, regular cycling can help regulate hormonal fluctuations that occur during their menstrual cycle. These changes can significantly impact mood and mental health, sometimes leading to conditions like premenstrual syndrome (PMS) or premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD). Cycling helps promote a balanced hormonal environment in the body, and can often aid in the alleviation of symptoms associated with the menstrual cycle.

Social Integration

One of the most heartwarming aspects of our sport is the social integration that it provides. Cycling has built within its communities a framework of socialization, with inclusion at its center. No matter your experience or level of ability, there is most likely a cycling group nearby that is waiting for you to show up and participate! We are social creatures, us human beings, and need to be around others for a holistic balance of our health.

(Credit: Adobe Stock)

Other Ways to Boost Mental Health

The goal, then, with the above in mind, is to find other things that complement both our cycling practice and our mental health in general to further round out our self-care. One of the best ways to do that is to fill out our training schedules with other fitness components that will make us better cyclists and better humans, overall. 

Dynamic Cyclist: The World’s #1 Training Companion for Cyclists

Dynamic Cyclist is the world’s #1 online training platform and mobile app for cyclists. We provide strength and stretching/mobility training + injury prevention programs designed to balance out your body and make you more injury resilient. A body that is strong, flexible, powerful, and free from injury is one of the keys to long-term physical and mental health.

Sign up for a 7-day free trial by CLICKING HERE, and join a global community of thousands of cyclists worldwide who are working towards pain-free riding! 

If you have any questions, or if we can help you in any way, send us an email at [email protected].

Written by Eric Lister – Certified Personal Trainer & Corrective Exercise Specialist