Women Who Ride Bikes Are Slimmer Than Women Who Don’t

June 29, 2010 3:53 pm 6 comments

Subscribe:

Newsletter

Author:

Art Jahnke

Tags:

First, the conclusion: “Bicycling,
similar to brisk walking, is associated with less weight gain
and an inverse dose-response relationship exists, especially
among overweight and obese women.” This unsurprising news comes from researchers at the Harvard Nurses’ Health Study, which follows 116,608 female nurses
who periodically fill out questionnaires about their health, weight,
diet and behavior. Read an abstract of the study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

The New York Times offers a bit more detail, reporting that the researchers found that women who increased physical activities like brisk walking
and bicycling by 30 minutes a day during the 16-year study period maintained
their weight and even lost a few pounds, but those whose exercise was
slow walking did not lose any weight. Women who decreased their bicycling time from more than 15 minutes a
day to less than 15 minutes gained about four-and-a-half pounds on
average.

6 Comments

William

June 29, 2010
6:09 pm

You mean that those who actually exercised with at least a moderate intensity were leaner, healthier and in better shape than those who didn’t? Who would have ever thought that the two, exercise and health/weight, might have some relationship?
Thanks for teaching me to take nothing for granted, such as common sense…smile.
namaste

Reply
Art Jahnke

June 29, 2010
9:20 pm

William,
I've been admiring your comments on SportsGeezer for years. If you would like it, I would be happy to send you a free SportsGeezer cap. Just send me your address.
Best,
Art Jahnke
Editor
SportsGeezer

Reply
peter M.

June 30, 2010
4:01 pm

When was the last time you saw a 300 lb. woman on a bicycle. Not only does activity lead to weight loss but people with healthy bodies generally are attracted to exercise. One does and enjoys what one is good at.

Reply
Terri

June 30, 2010
5:09 pm

Why is money wasted on ridiculous “Well, DUH!” studies like this?

Reply
Derek

July 1, 2010
12:21 pm

The problem with nearly every medical study we have reported to us in the media is that most studies prove correlation, but not causation.
For example, did you know that nearly 99% of all people who die in automobile accidents ate bread within 2 weeks of the accident?
The problem with that logic is obvious, but even in this case (although I believe in my heart of hearts it’s true) I would be foolish to just accept that concluding that riding bikes prevents weight loss without first examining and eliminating other factors (genetics, other exercise, better eating habits, environmental issues, etc) further makes this study a waste of money.
My guess is that anyone who engages in brisk exercise regularly also has other habits that contribute to weight loss and better overall health (akin to Peter’s comment). I know when I’m at my peak fitness levels, I’m also watching everything I put in my body. And times like right now when I’m not running due to the rediculous heat, I’m also eating worse (I hate to admit!).

Reply
Laura Lee Carter

July 3, 2010
8:47 am

Unfortunately, some of them are also deader! I decided to start riding at age 53, had an accident with a traumatic brain injury, fractured ribs, etc. with long-term effects. It scared me to death! I’m keeping my feet on the ground now!
Laura Lee Carter aka the Midlife Crisis Queen

Reply

Click here to cancel reply.

Recent Posts

Fitness Pain
Is The Cool Down Another Exercise Myth? The Short Answer Is “Yes”.

Is the benefit of cooling down just another exercise myth? The short answer, according to Gretchen Reynolds, of the New York Times, is “yes”. Reynolds points us to a recent study of 36 active adults, who did a strenuous, one-time program of forward lunges while holding barbells, an exercise, Reynolds says, “almost guaranteed to make untrained people extremely sore the next day.” Some of the group warmed up for 20 minutes on a stationary bike. Another contingent blew off the [...]
Read more →
Pain Women's Health
Energy Drink Warning: Stay Away From DMAA

The FDA has some scary news for fans of energy drinks and weight-loss supplements. The stimulant called dimethylamylamine (DMAA), often used in supplements promising weight loss, muscle building and performance enhancement, has been shown to “elevate blood pressure and could lead to cardiovascular problems, including heart attack, shortness of breath and tightening of the chest.” Given the known biological activity of DMAA, the agency warns, the ingredient may be particularly dangerous when used with caffeine. An FDA news release reports [...]
Read more →
Pain
1 in 5 Seniors Take High Risk Meds: More Common In South

Where you live may have more influence than you thought on how long you live. A recent report by researchers at Brown University has found that seniors living in the South Atlantic, East South Central and West South Central regions of the country — an area stretching from parts of Texas to South Carolina — had a 10 to 12 percentage point higher risk of receiving potentially harmful prescriptions than people in New England, who had the lowest chance. It’s [...]
Read more →
Fitness Gear
Why You Should Work Out With Music

Want to know why you should work out with music? The Wall Street Journal has some persuasive answers: when athletes synchronize their movements to a musical beat, their bodies can handle more exertion: Treadmill walkers have been shown to have greater stamina and cyclists require less oxygen uptake. Swimmers who listened to music during races finished faster than others who didn’t. What music does it best? The journal puts that question to Costas Karageorghis, deputy head of research at the [...]
Read more →
Attitude Pain
Music Boosts Immune System

Kicking out the jams, it turns out, can also kick out the germs. That’s the conclusion of researchers at McGill University, who reviewed 400 research papers in the neurochemistry of music, and found that playing and listening to music has clear benefits for both mental and physical health. According to a McGill news release, music was found both to improve the body’s immune system function and to reduce levels of stress. Listening to music was also found to be more [...]
Read more →
Pain
For Tennis Elbow, Steroids Can Do More Harm Than Good

The good news, from researchers at the University of Queensland, is that steroids really do relieve the pain of tennis elbow. The bad news is that because steroids relieve the pain of tennis elbow, the tennis player is more likely to overuse and re-injure the joint. A UQ news release reports that researchers at the school found that treating patients with physiotherapy and a corticosteroid injection did not reduce recurrence or have a long-term effect on complete recovery, pain or [...]
Read more →
Pain Women's Health
Sex Hurts, But There’s A Pill For That

We all know that love hurts, but for many postmenopausal women, sex hurts more. That’s because lower estrogen render vaginal tissues thinner, drier and more fragile. Now comes FDA approval for a new drug, Osphena, which, in FDA speak, “acts like estrogen on vaginal tissues to make them thicker and less fragile, resulting in a reduction in the amount of pain women experience with sexual intercourse.” The FDA reports that three clinical studies involving nearly 1,900 postmenopausal women with signs [...]
Read more →
Pain
Mushroom Extract May Slow Some Prostate Cancer

The bad news is that the good news only applies to men whose prostate cancer has already spread to other parts of their bodies, and whose testosterone levels have been lowered by drug therapy. The good news is that for those men, a natural product called genistein-combined polysaccharide, or GCP, which is commercially available in health stores, could help keep them alive. A news release from the University of California at Davis reports that researchers at the school found that [...]
Read more →