{"id":25586,"date":"2018-08-01T10:56:00","date_gmt":"2018-08-01T14:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/?p=25586"},"modified":"2022-03-16T10:37:36","modified_gmt":"2022-03-16T14:37:36","slug":"e-bikes-offer-same-health-benefits-as-regular-bikes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/e-bikes-offer-same-health-benefits-as-regular-bikes\/","title":{"rendered":"E-Bikes Offer Same Health Benefits As Regular Bikes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Electric bikes (e-bikes) are comparable to conventional bicycles when it comes to promoting health and fitness<\/a> in untrained and overweight individuals, according to a study by the University of Basel in Switzerland.<\/p>\n

The research comes at a time when e-bikes are growing ever more popular, and questions concerning their health benefits are on the minds of consumers.<\/p>\n

The study is published in the Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What are e-bikes?<\/b><\/h2>\n

E-bikes are essentially motorized, more efficient versions of regular bicycles. Rather than pedaling manually, e-bikes have a built in \u201cpedal assist\u201d that makes movement easier and allows a user to sustain greater endurance.<\/p>\n

For these reasons, e-bikes have been seen as desirable options for people who travel long distances, or carry heavy materials while biking.<\/p>\n

However, the \u201cassisting\u201d nature of e-bikes has also been met with skepticism, leaving people to wonder if this form of transportation offers the same health benefits as manual biking.<\/p>\n

To test this question, the researchers at the University of Basel decided to run an experiment.<\/p>\n

The study <\/b><\/h2>\n

The researchers recruited 32 volunteers who were considered untrained and overweight individuals, with a body mass index of 28-29.<\/p>\n

At the beginning of the study, the researchers measured each participant\u2019s oxygen uptake capacity (VO2) as a way to evaluate cardiorespiratory fitness. VO2 measures the body\u2019s ability to uptake and utilize oxygen.<\/p>\n

The participants were then broken up into two groups; 17 participants were randomly assigned to an e-bike group, while 15 participants were assigned to a bike group.<\/p>\n

The participants were instructed to use the bicycle allocated to them for an active commute to work in Basel at a self-chosen speed for at least three days a week during a month-long intervention period. Some of the participants wore a heart monitor and a GPS device.<\/p>\n

The starting point for the study was the Bike to Work<\/a> campaign, an initiative that\u2019s been running in Switzerland for 10 years, which invites commuters to use their bicycles or e-bikes every year for a month.<\/p>\n

The results <\/b><\/h2>\n

After a month, the participants had their VO2 measured again, and the researchers found that both groups had developed comparably well in their fitness.<\/p>\n

Arno Schmidt-Trucks\u00e4ss<\/a>, a professor of sports medicine at the University of Basel, explained that the results were quite surprising.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe thought e-bikers might bike at a lower intensity, which was not the case,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Instead, the researchers found that the e-bike group on average traveled at higher speeds and showed higher daily elevation gain.<\/p>\n

“This indicates that the e-bike can increase motivation and help overweight and older individuals to maintain fitness training on a regular basis,\u201d Schmidt-Trucks\u00e4ss said in a statement.<\/p>\n

“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 their mental well-being.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moving forward <\/b><\/h2>\n

As a whole, the researchers found that e-bikes can be a beneficial way for overweight or older adults to lower the risk of disease and lose weight.<\/p>\n

“Riding an e-bike can increase motivation and help overweight and older individuals to maintain fitness training on a regular basis,\u201d said Schmidt-Trucks\u00e4ss.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis may also help to improve other health related factors such as blood pressure, fat metabolism, and their mental well-being.\u201d<\/p>\n

Provided they receive funding, the researchers hope to continue investigating the health benefits of e-bikes, which is critical as e-bikes become more common around the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cDue to the increasing use of the e-bike, it could evolve comparable to the traditional bicycle into an instrument for the broad promotion of healthy lifestyle in the public health sector,\u201d said Schmidt-Trucks\u00e4ss.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Electric bikes (e-bikes) are comparable to conventional bicycles when it comes to promoting health and fitness in untrained and overweight individuals, according to a study by the University of Basel in Switzerland. The research comes at a time when e-bikes are growing ever more popular, and questions concerning their health benefits are on the minds […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":45692,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[661,620,623,665,230,229,243],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ace-college","category-body","category-exercise","category-health-wellness","category-news","category-lead-stories","category-health"],"aioseo_notices":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/E-Bikes-Offer-Same-Health-Benefits-As-Regular-Bikes.jpg",830,533,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/E-Bikes-Offer-Same-Health-Benefits-As-Regular-Bikes-224x144.jpg",224,144,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/E-Bikes-Offer-Same-Health-Benefits-As-Regular-Bikes-300x193.jpg",300,193,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/E-Bikes-Offer-Same-Health-Benefits-As-Regular-Bikes.jpg",830,533,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/E-Bikes-Offer-Same-Health-Benefits-As-Regular-Bikes.jpg",830,533,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/E-Bikes-Offer-Same-Health-Benefits-As-Regular-Bikes.jpg",830,533,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/E-Bikes-Offer-Same-Health-Benefits-As-Regular-Bikes.jpg",830,533,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Natalie Colarossi","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/author\/natalie-colarossi\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Electric bikes (e-bikes) are comparable to conventional bicycles when it comes to promoting health and fitness in untrained and overweight individuals, according to a study by the University of Basel in Switzerland. The research comes at a time when e-bikes are growing ever more popular, and questions concerning their health benefits are on the minds…","featured_media_src_url":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/E-Bikes-Offer-Same-Health-Benefits-As-Regular-Bikes.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/58"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25586\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}