9 ms·

A scoping review of bicycling interventions’ impacts on well-being

100 points by gnabgib 5mo ago

geophph 5mo ago
Certainly has a huge impact on my own mental health. My commute options are bike (2hr total pretty much without fail) or drive (on average 1:15 total) and even though the 45 min cost is not nothing, I know I’m happier, more pleasant and have less migraines when I commute more steadily by bike than drive. Doesn’t even matter about weather. I really appreciate my time on the bike to get some exercise, be outside, and just generally not be in a car.
- recursivecaveat 5mo ago
  If it saves time that you would otherwise spend deliberately exercising the comparison can be quite favorable really. +45m of commute but 120m of exercise 'saved'.
- tim333 5mo ago
  I've kind of gone from regular biking to an ebike and it's still fun and gives exercise but gets me there often quicker than by car.
scottious 5mo ago
Cycling is great for many reasons, but I feel that the biggest boost to my well-being was giving up driving.
- thewebguyd 5mo ago
  I'm a firm believer in cars ruin cities. Cycling is great. I ride both for sport/fitness and for errands, has a ton of benefits, but I agree with you that the biggest boost is not driving. Car culture/motonormativity in the US is a huge problem and transit here is severely lacking, cycling infrastructure or other wise (trains, busses, safe pedestrian paths and areas, trams, etc.). People point to traffic and stress, but there are overlooked harms of car culture we tend to ignore. It's responsible for a significant portion of emissions, and drivers and those near cars inhale a staggering amount of microplastics. Those who use public transit are less likely to be overweight, less likely to devlop type 2 diabetes, and less likely to have high blood pressure. Driving needs to stop being an unavoidable default. EVs and self driving aren't the answer either, all the same problems, except exhaust, are present with EVs.
  - jbmchuck 5mo ago
    Absolutely. The US' urban density problems, housing cost crisis - they all go back to car-based society.
  - scottious 5mo ago
    I agree. This is one reason why I want gas prices to go to $10/gallon. It will hurt, but maybe we'll start having some serious conversations about our awful transportation system and city design
    - KennyBlanken 5mo ago
      It'd also be nice because cyclist deaths in the US closely mirror gas prices. When gas prices drop, people drive more, and injure/kill more cyclists.
    - boelboel 5mo ago
      Sadly commuters are the least price sensitive, any gas price which would be enough to convince people to stop using gas would justify buying an electric car. There's also not really an alternative in most American cities as the density prevents public transport.
      - thewebguyd 5mo ago
        The low density though is a policy choice, not a geographical constraint. The US is low density because zoning laws criminalized denser housing and mandated excessive parking spaces. Many smaller municipalities wouldn't be able to afford a drastic uptick in EV usage either, they would be much better off focusing on any kind of public transit to reduce the number of vehicles on the road. Calgary (Canada) as a similar population density to most US cities and its light rail system has some of the highest per-capita ridership rate in North America, so it absolutely can be done. We just need to stop enforcing car-centric design with our zoning laws and parking mandates.
        unfitted2545 5mo ago
- scott_w 5mo ago
  While I haven't given up driving, the fact that I don't rely on it to commute (granted I work from home rather than cycling) means that when I do drive, my relative frustration is really low. About the only thing that annoys me is dangerous driving... for obvious reasons!
  - nickserv 5mo ago
    Same situation, working from home, although my city has decent public transport so even going downtown is easier without driving. But now when I need to drive for whatever reason, I get frustrated at having to drive. I'll complain about having to take the car, that why can't they put a bus route here, why is it the train doesn't stop at the station I need etc etc. Which actually surprised me, when my SO said to me: but I thought you liked driving? When we first met you were always working on your car... Oh yeah. I did, didn't I? It just kinda happened without me realizing it.
ervine 5mo ago
My love of cycling in every form is one of the greatest gifts my dad gave to me. I wish everyone was so lucky to find an activity they were obsessed with that has only upsides. So much North American rhetoric is focused on hatred of the cyclist - while that bums me out, what bums me out even more is that all the haters are missing out on the wonderful world of cycling. Commuter, road, gravel, mountain, track, indoor, fixed, single speed, folding, electric, uni, cargo, whatever. I'm gonna go ride now.
- __mharrison__ 5mo ago
  Recumbent...
  - ervine 5mo ago
    Nah, they’re freaks.
    - bluebarbet 5mo ago
      But unbelievably ergonomic. A decade ago I rented one to do a week's touring (in France and Switzerland). On a standard bike the first two days of such outings were invariably spoiled by sore butt and shoulders. On the recumbent I knocked off 80km on the first day with not the slightest ache. A total revelation.
      - 7e 5mo ago
        Recumbent bikes can promote over flexion of the neck, sometimes. Your neck isn’t neutral, it’s bending forward slightly, like tech neck. That’s not to say a recumbent isn’t ergonomic on the whole, but there are trade offs.
        bluebarbet 5mo ago
        Yes, absolutely. Although the neck issue is mostly solved by a 3/4 recumbent (which is what I used), where you are not completely flat. A potentially worse problem is that recumbents allow enormous force to be applied through the legs (because you can push against the lower back, as in rowing). This is one of their superpowers but you need to be aware of it to avoid knee issues.
sourcecodeplz 5mo ago
From what I've read from this study it seems that constant cycling it what helps most, not just from time to time.
pjs_ 5mo ago
Being able to cycle to and from work across a nice university campus, through fields and trees and in good weather, makes me feel as rich as any human who has ever lived
- elevation 5mo ago
  > Being able to cycle to and from work across a nice university campus, through fields and trees and in good weather, makes me feel as rich as any human who has ever lived Just wait til you try it with a 7 year old who adores you and just can't wait to go biking again. Or with a 12 year old, just chatting about life's paths. What a blessing.
  - testing22321 5mo ago
    I currently ride my 2.5 year old 5km to and from daycare every day. Mountain town, glacier in the distance, lake in foreground, tons of leaves and flowers now. Paradise.
- soramimo 5mo ago
  I've been biking to work in Los Angeles for ten years and it's surely been one of my best life hacks ever (to the point where access to biking infrastructure has been a primary consideration when buying my house).
  - mmooss 5mo ago
    I know a bike mechanic who commutes by bicycle (of course) in a city. I brought up bike infrastructure and they said they don't need much: side streets that are too slow for cars going any distance are perfect 'bike lanes' - either there are no cars or it's one lane of slow cars and the bike fits in fine. All they need to do is figure out a route, but usually they can find their way the first time without a map. LA is notoriously car-oriented, but is it different in that respect?
    - Gigachad 5mo ago
__mharrison__ 5mo ago
Biking is great. Find an excuse to do it. Two that have worked for me: Commuting and coaching the HS mountain bike team.
mattlondon 5mo ago
Is this impact above and beyond just the same amount of physical exercise? E.g. jogging? I think at this stage it is well understood that physical exercise has all these positives, so it would be interesting to know if anyone knows if bicycling is even better, or if it's just more of the same? Is cycling special I guess .... Like, I dunno using a pogo stick might have the same benefit as cycling, since it's all just physical activity at the end of the day?
- thewebguyd 5mo ago
  There's a few things unique/special to cycling. Injury prevention is a big one, especially vs. running. Cycling is non-weight bearing and avoids repetitive loading and joint impact. (runners average 11 injuries per 1,000 hours vs. cycling's 6 injuries per 1,000 hours). Because of that though you can ride for much longer durations comfortably than any other high-impact activity so cycling lets you have a much higher total volume of work and greater calorie expenditure without overtraining.
  - cschep 5mo ago
    this also means that more cafes are easily within reach of a cycle, where a jog can't quite get you there. plus cycling after a huge sandwich and a coffee is a lot easier than running :)
  - mmooss 5mo ago
    > runners average 11 injuries per 1,000 hours vs. cycling's 6 injuries per 1,000 hours Do you remember the source(s)? I'm hoping to read more about those and other activities. > Cycling is non-weight bearing and avoids repetitive loading and joint impact. Sure. I've also seen at least one study [0] that says the lack of weight-bearing means cyclists don't build bone strength and are more prone to fractures. I wonder if just riding in higher gears addresses that. > Because of that though you can ride for much longer durations comfortably than any other high-impact activity so cycling lets you have a much higher total volume of work and greater calorie expenditure without overtraining. Doesn't that also make it less efficient? Running seems to provide more exercise/hour. Again, maybe higher gears would solve that problem. [0] Sorry, I don't remember the source but I discovered it while looking for something else on, I think, PubMed.
everdrive 5mo ago
Is the increased risk of testicular cancer simply built in, or can it be avoided?
- phoronixrly 5mo ago
  Are you riding 8 hours a day every day? No? Get a well-fitting seat that doesn't make your balls go numb and you'll be fine. (AFAIK link between cycling and TC is inconclusive, link papers if you know otherwise)
  - ervine 5mo ago
    I think it’s just a Lance joke - cycling has no correlation with TC.
    - handedness 5mo ago
      Perhaps TC increases cycling rates!
    - handedness 5mo ago
      The context for the downvoters is that at the time, Lance attributed his performance to treatment for TC. (And being down even one T would almost certainly improve saddle comfort.)
- tokai 5mo ago
  There is no consensus that cycling increases the risk of testicular cancer. see page 6: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186/s12885-018-4093-3.pdf https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186/s12885-018-409...
- robotswantdata 5mo ago
  Don’t do PEDs
g8oz 5mo ago
I like to see a study of impacts on well-being comparing cycling versus walking.
- rramadass 5mo ago
  Google brings up plenty; Cycling vs. Walking: Which Is the Better Workout for You? - https://www.healthline.com/health/fitness/cycling-vs-walking https://www.healthline.com/health/fitness/cycling-vs-walking The above article has lots of links to actual studies. Also see - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48263645 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48263645
davidw 5mo ago
I'll add to the love for bicycles. I wrote this a while back about how bicycles are, for me, a "thinking machine": https://journal.dedasys.com/2015/04/20/the-bicycle-a-thinking-machine/ https://journal.dedasys.com/2015/04/20/the-bicycle-a-thinkin...
hrjrnfjfjrj 5mo ago
I gave up cycling for being too stressful. Every dog thinks cyclists are some sort of toy, to chase and bite. And using pepper spray 3 times a day gets old very fast.
- shipman05 5mo ago
  Such an interesting comment. I've commuted 1+ hours per day via bicycle for years and never once had a dog encounter. 3 per day is wild.
  - Fricken 5mo ago
    The first summer after COVID I was bitten by 3 different dogs in 3 separate incidents. I went 48 years without ever getting bitten by a dog until that one season.
- nickserv 5mo ago
  Wow you live surrounded by idiots. The dog owners, not the dogs, of course.
  - dhjfififfiirjf 5mo ago
    Right, except most dog owners are miles away, or dog has no owner. And any animal this eats its own poop is idiot.
    - dang 5mo ago
      Could you please stop creating accounts for every few comments you post? We ban accounts that do that. This is in the site guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html. You needn't use your real name, of course, but for HN to be a community, users need some identity for other users to relate to. Otherwise we may as well have no usernames and no community, and that would be a different kind of forum. https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comment&storyText=false&prefix&page=0&query=community%20identity%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comme...

100 points by gnabgib 5mo ago

Certainly has a huge impact on my own mental health. My commute options are bike (2hr total pretty much without fail) or drive (on average 1:15 total) and even though the 45 min cost is not nothing, I know I’m happier, more pleasant and have less migraines when I commute more steadily by bike than drive. Doesn’t even matter about weather. I really appreciate my time on the bike to get some exercise, be outside, and just generally not be in a car.

recursivecaveat 5mo ago
If it saves time that you would otherwise spend deliberately exercising the comparison can be quite favorable really. +45m of commute but 120m of exercise 'saved'.
tim333 5mo ago
I've kind of gone from regular biking to an ebike and it's still fun and gives exercise but gets me there often quicker than by car.

scottious 5mo ago

Cycling is great for many reasons, but I feel that the biggest boost to my well-being was giving up driving.

thewebguyd 5mo ago
I'm a firm believer in cars ruin cities. Cycling is great. I ride both for sport/fitness and for errands, has a ton of benefits, but I agree with you that the biggest boost is not driving. Car culture/motonormativity in the US is a huge problem and transit here is severely lacking, cycling infrastructure or other wise (trains, busses, safe pedestrian paths and areas, trams, etc.). People point to traffic and stress, but there are overlooked harms of car culture we tend to ignore. It's responsible for a significant portion of emissions, and drivers and those near cars inhale a staggering amount of microplastics. Those who use public transit are less likely to be overweight, less likely to devlop type 2 diabetes, and less likely to have high blood pressure. Driving needs to stop being an unavoidable default. EVs and self driving aren't the answer either, all the same problems, except exhaust, are present with EVs.
- jbmchuck 5mo ago
  Absolutely. The US' urban density problems, housing cost crisis - they all go back to car-based society.
- scottious 5mo ago
  I agree. This is one reason why I want gas prices to go to $10/gallon. It will hurt, but maybe we'll start having some serious conversations about our awful transportation system and city design
  - KennyBlanken 5mo ago
    It'd also be nice because cyclist deaths in the US closely mirror gas prices. When gas prices drop, people drive more, and injure/kill more cyclists.
  - boelboel 5mo ago
    Sadly commuters are the least price sensitive, any gas price which would be enough to convince people to stop using gas would justify buying an electric car. There's also not really an alternative in most American cities as the density prevents public transport.
    - thewebguyd 5mo ago
      The low density though is a policy choice, not a geographical constraint. The US is low density because zoning laws criminalized denser housing and mandated excessive parking spaces. Many smaller municipalities wouldn't be able to afford a drastic uptick in EV usage either, they would be much better off focusing on any kind of public transit to reduce the number of vehicles on the road. Calgary (Canada) as a similar population density to most US cities and its light rail system has some of the highest per-capita ridership rate in North America, so it absolutely can be done. We just need to stop enforcing car-centric design with our zoning laws and parking mandates.
      - unfitted2545 5mo ago
scott_w 5mo ago
While I haven't given up driving, the fact that I don't rely on it to commute (granted I work from home rather than cycling) means that when I do drive, my relative frustration is really low. About the only thing that annoys me is dangerous driving... for obvious reasons!
- nickserv 5mo ago
  Same situation, working from home, although my city has decent public transport so even going downtown is easier without driving. But now when I need to drive for whatever reason, I get frustrated at having to drive. I'll complain about having to take the car, that why can't they put a bus route here, why is it the train doesn't stop at the station I need etc etc. Which actually surprised me, when my SO said to me: but I thought you liked driving? When we first met you were always working on your car... Oh yeah. I did, didn't I? It just kinda happened without me realizing it.

ervine 5mo ago

My love of cycling in every form is one of the greatest gifts my dad gave to me. I wish everyone was so lucky to find an activity they were obsessed with that has only upsides. So much North American rhetoric is focused on hatred of the cyclist - while that bums me out, what bums me out even more is that all the haters are missing out on the wonderful world of cycling. Commuter, road, gravel, mountain, track, indoor, fixed, single speed, folding, electric, uni, cargo, whatever. I'm gonna go ride now.

__mharrison__ 5mo ago
Recumbent...
- ervine 5mo ago
  Nah, they’re freaks.
  - bluebarbet 5mo ago
    But unbelievably ergonomic. A decade ago I rented one to do a week's touring (in France and Switzerland). On a standard bike the first two days of such outings were invariably spoiled by sore butt and shoulders. On the recumbent I knocked off 80km on the first day with not the slightest ache. A total revelation.
    - 7e 5mo ago
      Recumbent bikes can promote over flexion of the neck, sometimes. Your neck isn’t neutral, it’s bending forward slightly, like tech neck. That’s not to say a recumbent isn’t ergonomic on the whole, but there are trade offs.
      - bluebarbet 5mo ago
        Yes, absolutely. Although the neck issue is mostly solved by a 3/4 recumbent (which is what I used), where you are not completely flat. A potentially worse problem is that recumbents allow enormous force to be applied through the legs (because you can push against the lower back, as in rowing). This is one of their superpowers but you need to be aware of it to avoid knee issues.

sourcecodeplz 5mo ago

From what I've read from this study it seems that constant cycling it what helps most, not just from time to time.

pjs_ 5mo ago

Being able to cycle to and from work across a nice university campus, through fields and trees and in good weather, makes me feel as rich as any human who has ever lived

elevation 5mo ago
> Being able to cycle to and from work across a nice university campus, through fields and trees and in good weather, makes me feel as rich as any human who has ever lived Just wait til you try it with a 7 year old who adores you and just can't wait to go biking again. Or with a 12 year old, just chatting about life's paths. What a blessing.
- testing22321 5mo ago
  I currently ride my 2.5 year old 5km to and from daycare every day. Mountain town, glacier in the distance, lake in foreground, tons of leaves and flowers now. Paradise.
soramimo 5mo ago
I've been biking to work in Los Angeles for ten years and it's surely been one of my best life hacks ever (to the point where access to biking infrastructure has been a primary consideration when buying my house).
- mmooss 5mo ago
  I know a bike mechanic who commutes by bicycle (of course) in a city. I brought up bike infrastructure and they said they don't need much: side streets that are too slow for cars going any distance are perfect 'bike lanes' - either there are no cars or it's one lane of slow cars and the bike fits in fine. All they need to do is figure out a route, but usually they can find their way the first time without a map. LA is notoriously car-oriented, but is it different in that respect?
  - Gigachad 5mo ago

__mharrison__ 5mo ago

Biking is great. Find an excuse to do it. Two that have worked for me: Commuting and coaching the HS mountain bike team.

mattlondon 5mo ago

Is this impact above and beyond just the same amount of physical exercise? E.g. jogging? I think at this stage it is well understood that physical exercise has all these positives, so it would be interesting to know if anyone knows if bicycling is even better, or if it's just more of the same? Is cycling special I guess .... Like, I dunno using a pogo stick might have the same benefit as cycling, since it's all just physical activity at the end of the day?

thewebguyd 5mo ago
There's a few things unique/special to cycling. Injury prevention is a big one, especially vs. running. Cycling is non-weight bearing and avoids repetitive loading and joint impact. (runners average 11 injuries per 1,000 hours vs. cycling's 6 injuries per 1,000 hours). Because of that though you can ride for much longer durations comfortably than any other high-impact activity so cycling lets you have a much higher total volume of work and greater calorie expenditure without overtraining.
- cschep 5mo ago
  this also means that more cafes are easily within reach of a cycle, where a jog can't quite get you there. plus cycling after a huge sandwich and a coffee is a lot easier than running :)
- mmooss 5mo ago
  > runners average 11 injuries per 1,000 hours vs. cycling's 6 injuries per 1,000 hours Do you remember the source(s)? I'm hoping to read more about those and other activities. > Cycling is non-weight bearing and avoids repetitive loading and joint impact. Sure. I've also seen at least one study [0] that says the lack of weight-bearing means cyclists don't build bone strength and are more prone to fractures. I wonder if just riding in higher gears addresses that. > Because of that though you can ride for much longer durations comfortably than any other high-impact activity so cycling lets you have a much higher total volume of work and greater calorie expenditure without overtraining. Doesn't that also make it less efficient? Running seems to provide more exercise/hour. Again, maybe higher gears would solve that problem. [0] Sorry, I don't remember the source but I discovered it while looking for something else on, I think, PubMed.

everdrive 5mo ago

Is the increased risk of testicular cancer simply built in, or can it be avoided?

phoronixrly 5mo ago
Are you riding 8 hours a day every day? No? Get a well-fitting seat that doesn't make your balls go numb and you'll be fine. (AFAIK link between cycling and TC is inconclusive, link papers if you know otherwise)
- ervine 5mo ago
  I think it’s just a Lance joke - cycling has no correlation with TC.
  - handedness 5mo ago
    Perhaps TC increases cycling rates!
  - handedness 5mo ago
    The context for the downvoters is that at the time, Lance attributed his performance to treatment for TC. (And being down even one T would almost certainly improve saddle comfort.)
tokai 5mo ago
There is no consensus that cycling increases the risk of testicular cancer. see page 6: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186/s12885-018-4093-3.pdf https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186/s12885-018-409...
robotswantdata 5mo ago
Don’t do PEDs

g8oz 5mo ago

I like to see a study of impacts on well-being comparing cycling versus walking.

rramadass 5mo ago
Google brings up plenty; Cycling vs. Walking: Which Is the Better Workout for You? - https://www.healthline.com/health/fitness/cycling-vs-walking https://www.healthline.com/health/fitness/cycling-vs-walking The above article has lots of links to actual studies. Also see - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48263645 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48263645

davidw 5mo ago

I'll add to the love for bicycles. I wrote this a while back about how bicycles are, for me, a "thinking machine": https://journal.dedasys.com/2015/04/20/the-bicycle-a-thinking-machine/ https://journal.dedasys.com/2015/04/20/the-bicycle-a-thinkin...

hrjrnfjfjrj 5mo ago

I gave up cycling for being too stressful. Every dog thinks cyclists are some sort of toy, to chase and bite. And using pepper spray 3 times a day gets old very fast.

shipman05 5mo ago
Such an interesting comment. I've commuted 1+ hours per day via bicycle for years and never once had a dog encounter. 3 per day is wild.
- Fricken 5mo ago
  The first summer after COVID I was bitten by 3 different dogs in 3 separate incidents. I went 48 years without ever getting bitten by a dog until that one season.
nickserv 5mo ago
Wow you live surrounded by idiots. The dog owners, not the dogs, of course.
- dhjfififfiirjf 5mo ago
  Right, except most dog owners are miles away, or dog has no owner. And any animal this eats its own poop is idiot.
  - dang 5mo ago
    Could you please stop creating accounts for every few comments you post? We ban accounts that do that. This is in the site guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html. You needn't use your real name, of course, but for HN to be a community, users need some identity for other users to relate to. Otherwise we may as well have no usernames and no community, and that would be a different kind of forum. https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comment&storyText=false&prefix&page=0&query=community%20identity%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comme...