Two kids ride 24" Guardian Bikes in the park

Mental and Physical Health Benefits of Biking for Kids

· June 15, 2021 | Posted by Kim Cupka

Mental and Physical Health Benefits of Biking for Kids

If you are trying to find the perfect activity that is both fun and healthy, you can’t do much better than riding a bicycle.

Let’s explore some of the biggest mental and physical health benefits of bicycling.

1. Full-Body Fitness

Biking gets kids breathing hard, sweating, and pumping their legs. That yields a whole slew of benefits, including...

Cardiovascular Health: Bicycling raises the heart rate in a positive way. Working out cardiovascular muscles helps keep kids healthy and active.

Lowered Risk of Diabetes: A decade ago, Type 2 Diabetes made up only 3% of new adolescent diabetes cases. This percentage has skyrocketed to 45% in recent years. This is due to the increase in childhood obesity in the United States. Regular cycling can help prevent this dangerous condition in children. Studies show that biking 30 minutes a day reduces the risk of Type 2 Diabetes by 40%.

Low Impact: Cycling is a physical activity that’s gentler on leg muscles and joints than other cardio workouts, like running. This allows your children to cycle for longer periods of time, thus increasing their daily aerobic exercise.

2. It’s Never Tedious

One of the best parts of biking is the fact that children don’t even realize they’re getting a good workout. That means they work harder, exercise longer, and stay happier. After all, who could be bored while gliding around with friends and exploring the neighborhood?

If you’re looking for ways to make bike riding extra fun for your kids, here are a few great places they can go to take their bike for a spin:

Forest with a bike trail or path
Friend’s neighborhood
Trails by the beach, lake, or river
A nearby park

Of course, cycling doesn’t have to be limited to local areas. Take a family trip and explore new surroundings while biking together! This is great for your relationships with each other, as well as your health as individuals.

3. It Builds Autonomy

The thrill of exploration is a huge appeal for most kids. By discovering the world on their own, children build confidence and inner strength.

When kids are too young to drive, but old enough to be out on their own, bike riding is a great way to bridge this gap. While it can be difficult to let your little ones go out into the world, there comes a time when it’s necessary to allow a little independence. Of course, having an appropriate amount of freedom is vital for children’s mental health. Some benefits of encouraging autonomy include:

Increased Imagination: Allowing your child some space to play freely helps increase their thinking and imagination skills. If every playtime is structured by an adult, their creativity can be hindered. Keep their brains sharp and their sense of wonder alive by allowing a little freedom to go out and explore on their bike.

Social Skills: Independence helps improve social skills in children. Going out and riding bikes with friends is an enjoyable, shared activity that will help your child make friends. This is particularly important during the summer months, when kids can’t spend time with their friends at school. Plus, a summer bike ride is a quintessential childhood activity.

Responsibility: Owning a bike is a great first step in teaching kids responsibility over both their possessions and their personal safety. Give your child a bike they love, and they’ll want to take proper care of it.

Confidence: Being able to ride a bike will contribute to building confidence in kids. As they master balance, steering, braking, and pedaling, they’ll learn that they can master anything, given enough practice. Take the metaphorical training wheels off and give your little cyclist a sense of agency over their life!

The best way to help build self esteem is by equipping kids with safe, reliable bikes they feel comfortable riding. Our Guardian Bikes come in a wide variety of sizes to offer the perfect fit for different children.

4. It Gets Them Outside

In the age of technology, it’s become increasingly difficult to get children into the great outdoors. While video games and television can be fun in small doses, every child should have the life-affirming experience of playing outside.

Outdoor play promotes myriad mental and physical health benefits, including:

Increased Vitamin D Intake: The sun provides Vitamin D, which is essential to building a healthy immune system and strong bones. Calcium and phosphate are two key minerals to staying healthy, and they can only be absorbed by a body that has adequate levels of Vitamin D. Just don’t forget the sunblock, because too much exposure to UV rays can be dangerous!

Improved Sleep Patterns: Children naturally have a lot of energy, and if they don’t have a way to unleash it, this can interfere with their sleep schedules. Spending time outside helps adjust the body’s circadian rhythm, through contact with sunlight. Playing outside will also allow your child to work out all their pent up energy and come home ready for a good night’s rest.

Engages Their Brains: Being inside all day can get boring. The excitement of the outside world helps engage your child’s brain in more ways than staying home. Studies have shown spending time outdoors can also help increase concentration in children with ADHD.

5. It Protects Against Anxiety & Depression

You’ve probably heard before that exercise is excellent for mental health - but you may not fully understand why.

A physical aspect: Exercise is a natural anxiety reliever. Setting your body in motion is a great way to work out the muscle tension that anxiety causes. This helps take care of the physical side effects of stress.
Complex chemistry at work: Physical activity causes the brain to release endorphins and dopamine. Endorphins reduce pain while dopamine is the famous “feel good” chemical. This means that exercise literally makes people happier.
Mental health issues, particularly anxiety and depression: These issues have increased in the adolescent population in recent years. In the United States, approximately 3.2% of children aged 3-17 suffer from diagnosed depression. That number jumps up to 7.1% for anxiety disorders in the same age bracket. While exercise is not a mental health cure-all, it can certainly help reduce the risk of your child suffering from these disorders.

Certain studies show that biking helps promote healthy white matter in the brain. This is basically the part of the brain responsible for developing new skills - and children’s brains have particularly large amounts of this white matter. In addition to physical health, getting your child to ride their bicycle is likely going to help improve their cognitive abilities and mood as well.

The Power of Cycling

The many benefits of biking don’t stop here. This list is simply a glimpse into the ways cycling can improve your child’s mental and physical health.

If you want a bicycle that will help your child feel confident riding (and help you feel better about their safety) look no further than Guardian Bikes.

American Diabetes Association. Type 2 Diabetes in Youth https://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/34/Supplement_2/S161

Better Health. Cycling - Health Benefits. https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/cycling-health-benefits

WebMD. Health Benefits of Getting Outside. https://www.webmd.com/balance/ss/slideshow-health-benefits-nature

Healthline. Why do We Need Endorphins? https://www.healthline.com/health/endorphins#:~:text=Endorphins%20consist%20of%20a%20large,a%20feeling%20of%20well%2Dbeing.

CDC. Anxiety and Depression in Children: Get the Facts. https://www.cdc.gov/childrensmentalhealth/features/anxiety-depression-children.html

Psychology Today. Bicycling Can Sharpen Your Brain and Improve Your Mood. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/minding-the-body/201505/bicycling-can-sharpen-your-thinking-and-improve-your-mood#:~:text=Study%20after%20study%20has%20shown,%2C%20a%20stress%20hormone%2C%20declined.