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Regular cycling at a healthy level benefits many of the body’s organs and systems. The heart and circulatory system: the heart beats faster to pump blood around the body more quickly and supply enough oxygen to the muscles, allowing them to do work. At rest, the heart normally pumps about four liters of blood per minute. During moderate aerobic activities such as cycling, about 20 liters of blood per minute circulate throughout the body. The heart itself is a muscle. When exercised as in cycling, it gets bigger and stronger, just like your biceps. People who take part in regular physical activity have a lowered risk of cardiovascular disease compared with those who don’t.

And for blood, regular aerobic activity prevents or delays high blood pressure. If you already have the condition, cycling can lower it. Exercise improves muscle strength, coordination and balance. It lessens the likelihood of falls in the elderly and aids joint mobility and lubrication.  Muscle endurance and tone result, with working muscle groups like calves and thighs becoming prominent. Posture also improves.

I read somewhere that drinking too much can actually “drown” you. Is it true? I would like to try water fasting, but the notion of dying because of drowning from drinking excessive amounts of water scares me. It is not so much the ‘drowning’ as it is the “diluting” that you need to watch out for. Our body fluids contain salts such as sodium, which are vital for fluid balance between the bold and the cells. Normally, our body has control mechanisms that maintain this balance, so that we consume huge amounts of water, our body compensate by eliminating excess fluids in the urine.

However, when we lose body fluids, we also lose body salts. During excessive body loss, replacing loses salts with pure water only will dilute the salt supply in our body. We end up with salt imbalance. Hyponatremia can cause the cells of the body to dangerously swell and malfunction. Therefore, water fating is a good idea.

Fitness gurus advise that just 30 minutes of exercise daily. In my frenetic world, I try to squeeze in time for some leg work. Instead of riding, I walk the 15 minute distance from our house to the nearest grocery and then walk back home when I’m done shopping. That already takes care of my day’s exercise quota. On Sundays, walking to church and back gets me 50 minutes of cardio workout. Experts have expressed concern that large and small cities worldwide are increasingly becoming hostile to pedestrians. And my neighborhood is no exception; most people I know would now rather take their car or ride a tricycle than use their bikes or legs to get around. Why? Because walking or biking in city a street poses hazards to one’s health.

In our own little way we can do much to promote more pedestrian-friendly communities. If you’re an officer in your homeowners associations or a member of your council, you can initiate tree-planting projects or building of benches or ledges to enhance people to walk.