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Is riding a motorcycle good for your health?

Not considering any accidents, yes, surprisingly so!

Earl Lee Earl Lee on Jul 09, 2021
Is Motorcycling Good For Your Health?

We’ve all heard it from our parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, girlfriends, boyfriends, friends, and your dad’s uncle’s friend’s second cousin. “Motorcycles are dangerous.” It’s easy for people to write off bikes as dangerous death machines, but what about what’s on the other side of the fence? What are the benefits that better one’s life, or health to be specific? 

There are quite a few actually, and we’ve listed them. Specifically, the ones that don’t involve you getting into an accident. Please, ride responsibly, and let’s avoid that occurrence altogether. 

Mental Health

Mental Health

This is pretty easy. If you love something, keep doing it and your happiness is bound to increase. Mental health is a very important aspect of one’s health. A healthy mind can further strengthen a healthy body. If riding brings you joy, it can certainly help to strap on a helmet and go for a ride. As such, there is a saying, “You never see a motorcycle parked outside a therapist’s office.” While not statistically proven, it’s become somewhat of a fact among riders that motorcycles are therapy in themselves. 

Sometimes, all it takes to make your day is to get on your bike and ride. Other times, when things just simply aren’t going your way, all you need to do is get on your bike and ride. Some of us in the office do this on a regular basis. If any of us on the team feel like we’re having a bad day, a ride is a perfect way to disconnect from life’s troubles and take a breather from the negativity. There is simply nothing better than doing what you love, and this can apply to other hobbies and pastimes—not just motorcycles. 

Physical Health

Fitness

Barring any inclination to an accident, riding a motorcycle can actually be quite the workout. Whether you’re on a big adventure bike like the BMW R 1250 GS, or something as small as a Vespa S 125, riding a bike will make you sweat. Pair that with proper protective gear, and you got yourself a sauna to boot! 

Kidding aside, whenever you ride a bike, you engage your entire body. You’re not really putting a strain on your muscles like you’re going to the gym, but you are working out your core, balance, neck, knees, thighs, and burning calories at the same time—more so if you’re more technical on the bike. 

Social Health

Motorcycling Social Health

To cap it off, being into motorcycles and engaging with the community can benefit your social life. Find a riding group and travel hundreds of kilometers in a day just to get breakfast and a cup of coffee on a fine weekend morning. Talk some shop with your friends about bikes, and what their next purchase will be. 

Hobbies are infectious, and others are likely as crazy as you when it comes to motorcycles. Sometimes, like mental health, we forget that social health is equally as important. Humans are social beings, and bikes are only one of the topics that can come up during a pre-ride or post-ride. Perhaps buy a Cardo or any comm system, join in on the conversation during the ride, sit down for breakfast, and be back home before lunchtime. Motorcycles are so much more than the two-wheeled death traps that most people make them out to be. Keep your wits about you all the time, know the dangers, train your brain, and that’s where our final entry comes in. 

Keep Your Senses Sharp

Physical Health

Veteran riders will often tell you that a motorcycle is a sensory overload device. There’s just so much to take in when you’re battling the wind as you roll down the highway, so many sights to see far from home, and so much good food to eat as per your friend’s recommendation. Primarily, however, being on a bike necessitates that your eyes and ears are sharp in addition to your mental aptitude to make split-second decisions. 

Motorcycling is a very involved activity, and your brain is always engaged when on one. A sharp mind isn’t born overnight, it’s developed over a long period of time. Being on a bike trains your brain to be very deliberate when making decisions on the road. The apparent danger challenges most riders to be very cautious about their next move, or very calculated depending on the skill level that the rider is at. Hand-eye coordination must go hand in glove with your bike. Man and machine must be one, and all the hazards on the road must be avoided. Once you’re up to speed and skilled, it’s all second nature and a sign of your development as a rider. Studies show that riding a motorcycle is like drinking a cup of coffee. Riders experience heightened alertness and decreased hormonal biomarkers of stress, as observed by the researchers at UCLA. So not only do you feel good and look good on a bike, it’s actually proven. Take that, naysayers. 

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