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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May Is National Bike Month
Welcome to National Bike Month™.
If spring weather doesn’t make you want to get out and ride your bike, just
think of what bicycling can do for you. Bicycling is good for your: heart,
children, smile, community, wallet, stress level, lungs, outlook on life,
waistline, car, knees and joints, sex life, self esteem, sleep pattern, muscle
tone, soul, everything...Most importantly, bicycling can save your life.
The year 2003 is the 47th consecutive year the League of
American Bicyclists has declared May to be National Bike Month™. The League is
promoting Bike-to-Work Week from May 12 - 16 and Bike-to-Work Day on Friday,
May 16. To help promote bicycling, visit the League’s new National Bike
Month™ site at www.bikemonth.com to download or order videos,
Bike Month Organizers’ Kits, brochures, screensavers, quick tips on safety and
maintenance, and a public service announcement for your local radio station.
Bicycling and other forms of exercise play a critical role
in healthy active living and wellness, the active process of living in ways
that prevent illness and improve your physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual
health. "Exercise has to be the foundation of any good preventive medicine
program," says Dr. Ken Cooper, M.D., M.P.H., founder of the world-renowned
Cooper Clinic and the
Bicycling can help you lose weight and increase your
physical fitness, preventing or reducing overweight and obesity, which a new
study links to more than 90,000 deaths from cancer each year in the
At a time of continuously heightened tension in the
Bicycling may be able to reduce the impact of aging on the
brain. Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign studying
brain scans of 55 volunteers over age of 55 found anatomical differences in
gray and white matter between physically fit and less fit subjects. Their
study, published in the February 2003 issue of the Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, found an inverse
relationship between physical fitness and brain density/shrinkage in three key
areas of the brain adversely affected by aging. In other words, the better
shape you are in, the denser, bigger, and more efficient your brain.
The Cooper Institute recently published a study in the American Journal of Cardiology showing
that men with high blood pressure who participated in physical activity, such
as bicycling, on a regular basis were much less likely to die prematurely than
men with high blood pressure who did not participate in physical activity. Tim
Church M.D., PhD., M.P.H., of The Cooper Institute, said, "In my opinion,
if you have high blood pressure and it is properly controlled with medications,
regular physical activity is the most important change you can make to improve
or maintain your health. Of course with any new lifestyle change, it is best
that you check with your doctor to assure increasing physical activity is right
for your particular situation."
So get out and ride...and bring along a friend. For more information on biking in
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