A recent long term medical study of almost 480,000 British people suggests that cycling might have benefits beyond personal fitness and minimising pollution.
Published in the JAMA Network Open journal, the cohort study entitled ‘Active Travel Mode and Incident Dementia and Brain Structure’ shows that active travel, particularly cycling, is associated with a lower incidence of all-cause dementia, including young-onset and late-onset dementia.
It appears that cycling’s combination of physical activity and mental problem-solving brings better brain health, lowering dementia risk for participants.
For some time, the benefits of cycling for conditions such as diabetes have been well-known, but this is the first time the associations between travel mode, dementia risk and structural brain changes have been examined over the long term.
The numbers are startling; riding a bike is associated with a 19 per cent lower risk of all types of dementia, and a 22 per cent lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease, compared with people who get around using cars, buses and trains.
Considering 150 million people worldwide are expected to have dementia by 2050, anything which helps address this problem needs to be taken seriously.
Caveats
Critics have pointed out that a found association between cycling and dementia numbers is not the end of the story, as older adults who ride bikes are likely already a healthier subgroup. More research is needed to tease out the chicken and egg aspects of these findings.
Still, cycling appears to bring much greater benefits than walking, for example, possibly due to the extra effort the brain has to do while navigating the world at high speed.
There are also the health risks from cycling to consider, such as being hit by traffic, spending all your money on bike stuff, or being mocked for wearing lycra.
It’s unclear if stationary indoor cycling brings the same benefits as riding outside, as this wasn’t included in the study.
Still, if you’re serious about reducing your future dementia risk, improving cardiovascular fitness, increasing blood flow to the brain and enhancing neuroplasticity are all very positive goals, and cycling ticks every one of these boxes.
Time to get back on the bike?
