Electric bikes: good for health past 50 years?

Electric bikes: good for health past 50 years?

As a means of transportation or for leisure, the electric bicycle would improve cognitive functions and provide a feeling of well-being, according to a British study.
"When we were leaving early in the morning / when we were going on the roads / on a bicycle ...." /

If the song of Yves Montand immediately puts us in a good mood, the regular practice of cycling would also participate in a feeling of well-being. But beware, not just any bike according to a British study published in the journal Plos!

Led by researchers from the Universities of Reading and Oxford Brookes, the research was conducted for two months. They evaluated the state of health of about 100 men and women, aged 50 to 83 years.

Classic vs electric bicycles

All neophytes in the cycle practice, the participants were divided into three groups. The first one made three sessions of thirty minutes a week by electric bike. The second followed the same program but with traditional bicycles. The members of the third group did not practice cycling during the experiment.

An improvement in cognitive functions was observed in the first two groups, particularly with regard to the planning and execution of daily tasks. The researchers also found that people who had used the electric bike had a greater sense of well-being, probably because of the relative ease of exercise.

"We thought that those who used traditional pedal-only bicycles would have the greatest amount of physical and mental health because they would like more of their cardiovascular system." Instead, people who used electric bikes told us said they felt more comfortable doing the activity, and they were more confident, so they had better results, "says Louise-Ann Leyland, a researcher at University College London. of the project.