Science Proves that Riding a Motorcycle is Good For You – Seriously!

We’ve all felt it before: this uncontrollable need to smile, breathing in the air of freedom, feeling the interior peace and weightlessness that comes with being on the road and sharing a moment alone with yourself to the sound of a mix of exhaust note and wind. This might all sound a little sappy and over-poeticized, but you know exactly the feeling I’m describing and also know that very little can compare. Apparently, it’s not just a “feeling”—riding is good for us.

It would make perfect sense for Harley-Davidson to fund research about the physical benefits of riding considering the brand's notoriety for making ride-friendly bikes, right? Well, that’s exactly what the Milwaukee company has done. In collaboration with the UCLA’s Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behaviour, a study among over 50 experienced riders was conducted to determine the effects of a motorcycle ride on the brain.

All the riders studied were hooked up to a mobile electroencephalogram (EEG), a sort of shower cap-like device covered in electrodes that detect the brain’s electrical activity. They were then set loose on their bikes. The subjects’ brain activity and hormones were also monitored before the ride, while they were driving a car, and while they were resting in order to establish comparables.

What the researchers observed is that the ride decreased the participants’ level of stress (28-percent decrease in stress biomarkers), that it slightly increased their heartbeat (a 20-minute ride increased heartbeat by 11 percent), their adrenaline levels (by 27-percent) as well as their focus and alertness.

MENTAL HEALTH BENEFITS

1. Positive Outlook

There is a chemical reason why motorcyclists feel addicted to riding. Why does motorcycling bring happiness, peacefulness, and put us in a better mood?

Dopamine is a so-called messenger substance or neurotransmitter that conveys signals between neurons. It not only controls mental and emotional responses but also motor reactions. Dopamine is particularly known as being the “happy hormone.” It is responsible for our experiencing happiness. Every twist of the wrist releases adrenaline which, in turn, releases endorphins. The fresh air and the sense of freedom, releases dopamine; these ‘feel good’ hormones improve our mood, increase pleasure and minimize pain.

When you are riding, your mind is fully engaged, which is kind of like a mediation! Meditation is a practice where an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state.

This state of focus we enjoy when riding, is drawing your mind into a naturally meditative state. The clarity of focus required to ride, where you enjoy the ‘little things’ on your journey (the smell of freshly cut grass) all naturally lead to you practice a mindfulness as second nature.

This is why your mind feels refreshed and ‘ironed out’ when you throw your leg off after a long ride.

2. Cognitive Function

Riding a motorbike every day can make you smarter and prevent the onset of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, says Dr Ryuta Kawashima, author of the Nintendo game “Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training”.

The 57-year-old self-professed motorcycle fan conducted a study in 2009 at the University of Tokyo that found riders aged 40-50 had improved levels of cognitive function after riding their bikes daily to work for just two months.

The study by Dr. Ryuta Kawashima, looked at the relationship between motorcycle riding and the human mind and focused on riders with an average age of 45 some of whom were regular riders and others who had not ridden in 10 years. The study asked participants to ride on courses in different conditions while he recorded their brain activities.

He found that current riders and former riders used their brains in different ways, and the current riders had a higher level of concentration because specific segments of their brains (the right hemisphere of the prefrontal lobe) was activated. He also tested how making a habit of riding affects the brain. The test subjects had not ridden for 10 years or more. Over the course of a couple of months, those riders used a motorcycle for their daily commute and in other everyday situations.

The result? The use of motorcycles in everyday life improved cognitive faculties, particularly those that relate to memory and spatial reasoning capacity. An added benefit, according to the study? Participants said their stress levels had been reduced and their mental state changed for the better.

So why motorcycles? Shouldn’t driving a car should have the same effect as riding a motorcycle?

“There were many studies done on driving cars in the past,” Kawashima said. “A car is a comfortable machine which does not activate our brains. It only happens when going across a railway crossing or when a person jumps in front of us. By using motorcycles more in our life, we can have positive effects on our brains and minds.”

Ryuta Kawashima notes that motorcycle requires a high level of alertness and rapid problem-solving. According to Kawashima, “the driver’s brain gets activated by riding motorbikes.”

This means the next time you are sitting at your computer feeling sluggish or that you get home after a long a stressful day, the answer to getting back on track or relieving some of the tension could be as simple as going out for a ride. You know, in case you needed another good reason to throw on your jacket and helmet and head out. Now go out and ride, doctor’s orders!