The Mental and Emotional Health Benefits of Indoor Cycling

1. The Mental and Emotional Health Benefits of Indoor Cycling To those of us who work here in Mcycle, there is little doubt that indoor cycling offers mental and emotional health benefits in addition to its obvious physical benefits. And if we have learned anything from the last six months of the coronavirus crisis, it is that mental and emotional health can be quite fragile at times. Now more than ever, indoor cycling is important to us and our guests. Have you ever wondered about the mental and emotional benefits of indoor cycling? If so, this post is for you. Most of the benefits described below are common to all sorts of exercise. But we have included one that we think is unique to the indoor cycling community. Exercise the Brain Very few people know that exercising the body also exercises the brain. When you exercise, you increase blood flow to every part of your body. That includes the gray matter between your ears. Increased blood flow promotes more capillary beds that form new blood vessels. New blood vessels mean more oxygen, which encourages brain cells to be more active. It all leads to more proteins, more neurons, more neurotransmitters, etc. Your brain actually becomes stronger, just like your muscles. A stronger brain functions faster and better. And by the way, this is not just our opinion. Scientific studies have proved it. Fight Depression Exercise increases the production of certain brain chemicals, including serotonin and dopamine.

2. According to a study out of Duke University, just 20 minutes of exercise per day can increase serotonin and dopamine levels enough to prevent long-term depression. Scientists do not fully understand why at this point, but the science has been proved by multiple studies. Relieving Stress and Anxiety The same studies also show that 20 to 30 minutes of exercise can increase brain chemicals like endorphins and cannabinoids. When those chemicals are active in the brain, people seem to be better at coping with stress and anxiety. The chemicals have even been shown to relieve stress and anxiety in people who exercise regularly as compared to those who do not. The stress issue must be tempered with the fact that exercise is, in itself, somewhat stressful. Understand that it is possible to exercise too much. The end result would be more negative effects than positive ones. That is one of the reasons we encourage new indoor cyclists to start slowly. More Social Interaction This final benefit is one we have observed firsthand here in our studio: indoor cycling classes provide a welcoming environment in which our guests can interact socially. We have seen brand-new classes start out with complete strangers who eventually evolve into best friends. And even when students do not become close friends, they still enjoy the social interaction they have in class. Mental health experts say that adequate socialization is an important part of healthy living. We humans were created to be social creatures, so we need that time together in shared experiences. Indoor cycling provides a bit of that. Even if it is just once or twice a week for 45 minutes, getting together with friends to participate in a shared activity tends to increase feelings of happiness. Sign up for Your First Class If you have never tried indoor cycling before, we invite you to sign up for your first class here at Mcycle. We are operating at limited capacity right now, but there is still room in many of our classes. You can even Mcycle at home if you cannot get to our Salt Lake City cycling studio. Sign-up for online classes is available here on our website.