Surprising Health Benefit from Cycling
 

A little background: I have have been having trouble with my gums for a few years now. I see a periodontist regularly and get my teeth cleaned every three months. Three months ago things were not looking good and the periodontist started talking surgery. In April I got my road bike and I have been riding several times a week trying to do 100 miles/week. Since then, honestly, I have been a little lax about my teeth. It's hard to squeeze a new activity into my life and stay totally on top of everything I was doing before.

Maybe you can imagine my surprise when I went for my cleaning this week and the hygienist spent very little time in my mouth and declared my gums to be very healthy this time. I wondered if there could possibly be a connection between bike riding and a healthy mouth. I googled it and came up with this study:

http://www.quantumhealth.com/news/re...m_disease.html

There seem to be a few articles all referencing the same study from Case Western. What do you think? Do you think there might be a connection? What other benefits have you experienced from cycling other than weight loss?

Dunno, I've been riding my a$$ off this year and my dentist has been tsk tsking me to the point where I now need to have another gum scaling doohickey or whatever.

I'd repeat the lingo they use but they were gasping. Oh my, the pockets! And that other word! Gasp!

I swear I'm that woman's retirement plan. :(

I am asthmatic and have allergies to nearly every pollen and dust found around here. In the past three years since I have started cycling I have noticed that my asthma barely even bothers me at all. I mean to the point that I fill my prescriptions every month but I dont use them (I stock pile in case of emergency). As for my allergies I find that after the first 5 miles of riding (usually with nose drip, congestion, or sneezing) that I am able to breath much easier thru my nose and have less instances of pollen allergies after riding.

congrats on the new found health. i believe that exercising helps heal the body.

i suffered some bad sciatica before i started riding. i mean bad. every night i was crossed up in the bad doing all the exercises to try and make it better. i noticed almost immediately i started riding that the sciatica almost dissappeared. now i can go days without even noticing. it will still pop up every so often, but very mildly

Agreed. Mine is so bad that our family moved continents to give me a chance at life. Mind you, the asthma meds were not good in the 1970s. Now, I hardly ever use them, and part of why I like to ride so much is that I was never able to use my body that way before.

Wish I could convince my wife of this. Her asthma and allergies are her reason to not try to ride more. I figure anything that builds lung capacity is going to improve the situation.

This is true and she also needs to understand that building that capacity and strength while younger leads to a more tolerable health in the future. Advair has been my saving grace and I am now on the lowest dose. I can run, swim, and bicycle without rescue inhalers never could do that before.

I imagine anything that strengthens the cardio/pulminary systems would cure or alleviate a lot of symptoms and ailments. Get that oxygen rich blood pumping through your body and it'll flush away a lot of crap or allow organs that will to function much more efficiently. There's a reason that people who eat well and get plenty exercise are generally less prone to illness.

Improved lung capacity, Lower blood glucose levels, Increased vitamin D levels. Yeah that's just a few things I have experienced. I've noticed I have drank less Diet Coke since I have taken up cycling which has defiantly helped with my oral health.

The funny thing about my story is that I have always been very active. As a small child I was hyperactive I ran around in circles, did cartwheels in the stores, would jump on the trampoline, swim and for hours. In high school and college I would play basketball for 3-5 hours a day and also lifted weights. But For some reason none of these other activities every had the same effect on my asthma as cycling has.

Improved general health couldn't hurt, but I would keep brushing my teeth if I were you.

I agree with this and with homechicken's response. Improved cardio allows every part of the body to work better. However, the use of Diet Coke has not harmed my dentures in any way.

My health has dramatically improved in the last 6 months and especially since I started riding. I've not noticed any dental benefits, but I have pretty good teeth anyways.

:-)))

Of course! But I thought it interesting and motivating (to me, at least) that after years of decline, I start riding my bike a lot and my teeth stabilize. I expected to see improvements in BP, cholesterol, and blood sugar, but teeth and asthma symptoms?

I really don't know if there is a connection, but I won't quite riding to test it.