Can Riding A Motorcycle Improve Your Mental Health?

Sometimes maybe getting away from your problems for a while isn’t such a bad idea. We’ve always heard that we shouldn’t run from our problems. We should face them head-on. That may not always be the case. Maybe getting your bike out and going for a spin can help calm you down instead of making any rash decisions. It has been shown in multiple studies that riding a motorcycle can significantly decrease stress levels and produce feel-good hormones such as endorphins.

Studies have also linked a better state of mental well-being in bikers who often go on bike rides in areas that are close to nature. Biking has a multitude of benefits ranging from reducing stress to increasing body strength. Riding a motorcycle helps the biker gain control, of their emotions and mental health.

Distraction

Biking provides an outlet that helps distract the bikers from their day-to-day worries. Bikers tend to take their bikes out for a spin when they need to clear their head Riding a motorcycle allows them to do just that. The daily grind can become exhausting so having an outlet where you can relax your mind and body together and have a few moments of peace. Biking helps with distracting the mind from worrisome thoughts as it causes the bikers to be more alert and focused regarding their surroundings while they are riding. It makes them divert their attention to the path, the bike, and the other vehicles such as cars, buses, or other bikes around them.

One With Nature

Exploring nature helps a biker feel closer to it. It provides a sense of becoming one with nature, it brings peace and calm. A calmness that washes over you completely and grounds you. Bike riders who like to explore often consider exploring the great outdoors. The scenic views, the earthy smell, and the cool breeze touching their face, all provide a feeling like no other and offers tranquillity .

Emotional Satisfaction

Our brain’s chemical processes for emotions can create several hormones that cause us to feel happiness, sadness, anger, and excitement among others. Happy thoughts are released in your mind by hormones such as :

• Dopamine
• Oxytocin
• Endorphin
• Serotonin
• Adrenaline

For biking enthusiasts, these hormones are released when they are riding a motorcycle. Riding motorcycles has a positive impact on the mental and emotional state of the rider. Hormones control emotional, physical, and mental responses of the body hence when a person’s body releases these happy hormones they have higher emotional satisfaction. The brain associates the release of these chemicals with feelings of being free and happy. Which is why bikers feel emotionally lighter when they ride their bikes. This results in a stable state of emotions leading to mental satisfaction as well.

Improved Core Strength 

Riding a motorcycle can be somewhat considered a workout. Trying to keep yourself upright on a bike engages your core. Add in the external factors such as the weight of the bike, the bumps on the road, the wind and all these cause a person to truly use their core to maintain a correct upright position while also controlling the bike while riding. Maintaining a proper riding posture and having control over your bike while it is in motion requires strength. Considering riding a motorcycle as a low-impact exercise, it can also help improve muscle tone.

We know physical health plays a huge role in maintaining good mental health. Workouts are considered great for boosting your mental health. It provides a dual benefit of improving your physical health and mental health side by side.

Increasing Neck Strength

You can strengthen your neck when riding. This might not seem like a huge deal to other people, but for those who experience neck or back issues, it’s practically like therapy. Make sure your bike is well-adjusted and fits properly for you.

Wearing a helmet initially will cause your body to ache but over time your neck and back strengthen. The neck learns to adapt and strengthen itself to hold the weight of the helmet while also maintaining a proper posture. This relieves symptoms of back pain and neck pain as well.

The opposite effects will occur if you crane or strain your neck, and you don’t want to harm your body in any way.

Cognitive Ability

Riding a motorcycle activates an area of your brain. Specifically the prefrontal lobe’s right hemisphere. Your prefrontal cortex is in charge of several things, including impulse control, emotional reactions, and attention focus. It’s simple to understand how this connects to riding a motorcycle because doing so demands a higher degree of concentration and vigilance. It can also call for you to think rapidly but under control. Your cognitive performance can develop over time if you regularly use this portion of your brain.

A study backs up this claim of leading to better cognitive functioning. A comparison of two groups was done. Bikers who frequently ride and bikers that don’t. The study showed that those who rode more frequently and regularly were considerably more stimulated as compared to those who didn’t. Also observing an increase in memory and cognitive functioning . Thus, decreasing the chances of developing cognitive deficits in their later years of life.

You should make time to unwind and engage in activities that make you happy since your mental health is just as essential as your physical health. Being in a calm environment helps riders to calm down. The environment that engulfs them is so soothing and freeing that it lowers the stress levels of the bikers. Riding a motorcycle has a number of advantages that are very beneficial in helping bikers maintain their optimal health. Both physical and mental. Biking is a good outlet to help regulate your emotions. While biking you can feel yourself leaving all for worries behind. And just living in the moment, feeling free.