Riding an E-bike Benefits Health and Fitness

E-bike promotes health and fitness and is as effective as a conventional bicycle. Hence, the overweight and untrained people can also benefit from riding it, said a team of researchers from the University of Basel.

Health and fitness can be promoted by riding an e-bike which is as effective as a conventional bicycle, reports a new study. Overweight and untrained people, in particular, can benefit from riding it. The findings of the study are published in the Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine.//

The starting point for the pilot study was the Bike to Work campaign, which has been running in Switzerland for ten years now and invited commuters to switch to their bicycles or e-bikes every year for a month. Almost 65,000 cyclists took part this year.

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‘E-bike is as effective as conventional bicycle and riding it for a short period of four weeks can improve cardio-respiratory fitness.’

A research group at the Department of Sport, Exercise, and Health at the University of Basel examined how the exercise intensity on e-bikes compares to conventional bicycles. They conclude that training with an e-bike is by no means less effective, but has comparable health benefits as regular bicycling. Furthermore, the researchers found that even after a relatively short training period of four weeks improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness were achieved.

Oxygen uptake as indicator for cardiorespiratory fitness

To conduct the study, the researchers recruited about 30 volunteers who were considered untrained overweight individuals (body mass index of 28-29). In preparation for the intervention, the participants were thoroughly examined. The oxygen uptake capacity (VO2) was used as a decisive criterion for the evaluation of cardiorespiratory fitness. VO2 measures the body's ability to uptake and utilize oxygen.

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The participants then rode a distance of at least 6 kilometers on at least three days per week. While one half was riding on a conventional bike, the other half was commuting on an e-bike. There were no specifications regarding the speed and intensity of the ride. Some of the test subjects were wearing a heart monitor and a GPS device.

After a month, the participants had their health tested again and it became apparent that both groups had developed comparably well in their fitness - measured by their oxygen uptake capacity. If this improvement is maintained permanently, the risk of cardiovascular mortality decreases to a clinically relevant extent. Also, the heart worked more efficiently after the four-week training.

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Preventive potential of e-bikes

Furthermore, the study shows that the participants of the e-bike group were on average traveling at higher speeds and showed higher daily elevation gain. "This indicates that the e-bike can increase motivation and help overweight and older individuals to maintain fitness training on a regular basis," comments Arno Schmidt-Trucksaess, Professor of Sports Medicine at the University of Basel on the study results.

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"Those who use e-bikes on a regular basis benefit permanently, not only in terms of their fitness, but also in terms of other factors such as blood pressure, fat metabolism, and overall mental well-being." Overall, he suggests that the study provides an important indication of the preventive potential of e-bikes.

Source-Eurekalert