Brussels, 22 September 2021 – Those who cycle home from work, arrive home relaxed. This was revealed by a survey commissioned by Lease a Bike, a company that offers bike leasing to businesses, conducted among 1,000 Flemish workers. More than two in three Flemish workers (68.8 %) find that commuting by bike reduces stress. More than 8 in 10 workers (83.5 %) who do cycle home from work from time to time, indicated that it helps them to clear their head after a tough day. Lease a Bike publishes these figures today on the occasion of Car Free Workday during Mobility Week.
The fact that cycling to work is good for you if you want to stay in shape, is common knowledge. But that it is also good for your mental health is less well known. More than half of Flemish workers cycle to work every now and again. A large majority of them (83.5 %) indicated that it helps them to clear their head after a hard day’s work. For almost one in ten (9.3 %) it was the main reason why they commute by bike.
Top 5: the main benefits of regularly commuting by bike
Close on half of Flemish workers (46.7 %) even believe that there would be fewer burnouts if more workers were to commute by bike.
“During Mobility Week as many people as possible are helped #goedopweg [well on track]. This is something we work on every day, and successfully so: this year up to 126 % more bikes were leased compared to last year. Companies are increasingly using lease bikes to keep their workers motivated and committed and to make them feel appreciated. An additional bonus is that cycling home from work helps workers to switch off from the day job and enables them to arrive home relaxed. In that sense, the return to the office is a blessing for people’s mental health,” says Geert De Volder, spokesperson for Lease a Bike.
This is confirmed by Lode Godderis, professor of occupational medicine at KU Leuven: “Anyone who engages in moderate to intensive physical exercise for half an hour at the end of the working day, will arrive home less stressed or completely unstressed. By doing this in an active manner - like cycling -, you’ll dramatically reduce your stress hormones. You get the chance to think about something else, get other stimuli and take in more oxygen. That will be all the more the case if you cycle through nature. If at all possible, choose a quiet road or take the scenic route if necessary. Lastly, the outdoor air and the exposure to outdoor light make that we arrive home more refreshed.”
No time like the present to start moisturising those calves!
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