[column width="1/2"]Astonishingly, nearly half of all Americans have some form of heart disease (about 48.5%) and we had overtaken them in parts over more recent years there for a while. That’s about 122 million people living with a heart problem that they may or may not be aware of, an astounding figure that’s not talked about much. Largely due to the unhealthy options readily available for people, the amount of them smoking, primarily consuming fatty foods, and not exercising ends up causing trouble.</p>Heart disease has also been correlated with worse mental health, thought to be in part due to proportionally lower circulation to the brain. Fortunately, mountain biking and hiking can help counteract the chances of developing heart problems and could have positive impacts on peoples mental health.[/column_text][/column][column width="1/2"][single_image image="15609" img_size="large"][/column][/row][column width="1/2"][single_image image="15611" img_size="large"][/column][column width="1/2"]Many studies have found that riding in moderation decreases your risk of cardiovascular disease and increases your overall health. A recent review paper analyzed 16 different studies on cycling and overall health, ultimately indicating that cardiovascular health increases with longer distances and times spent cycling.</p>These studies show that heart fitness can increase by up to 30% from baseline values, lowering your resting heart rate and significantly decreasing the chances of getting severe heart diseases.</p>But why exactly does mountain biking do this for your heart?[/column_text][/column][/row][column width="1/2"]This increased heart health is likely due to the use of compound muscle groups when mountain biking. Unlike road biking or indoor cycling, mountain biking utilizes core strength and other muscle groups in the upper body to maintain balance on tricky segments of trail. Creating manageable challenges at times for different muscle groups which are activated reactively and at times, unpredictably.</p>You may be on a smooth section of trail for a few minutes that only requires you to use low wattage through your quads, hamstrings, glutes and calf muscle groups to pedal, but then be straight into technical downhill segments that require other muscle groups for balance and maneuverability. This means your muscles are using more oxygen, as these muscle groups must be able to fire quickly in response to help keep you balanced.[/column_text][/column][column width="1/2"][single_image image="15605" img_size="large"][/column][/row][column width="1/2"][single_image image="15612" img_size="large"][/column][column width="1/2"]The increased oxygen demand means that your heart must work smarter not harder and adapt to more efficiently deliver oxygen to the various parts of your body. As you spend more time mountain biking, your heart will train itself to be more efficient in oxygen uptake and distribution.</p>This increased oxygen efficiency of your heart can have a big impact on your mental health. While it’s extremely difficult for researchers to disentangle the effects of exercise on cardiovascular health and mental health separately, it is certain that both are directly impacted by exercise. At least one study has shown that hypertension and heart disease severely limits cognitive functioning, suggesting that reducing hypertension may increase mental functionality.[/column_text][/column][/row][zigzag color="custom" custom_color="#00e056"][/column][/row][row type="standard" full_width="no" content_in_grid="yes" grid_size="75" button_position="center" target="" button_icon_pack="" button_size="" button_fa_icon="" button_fe_icon="" button_ion_icon="" button_linea_icon="" button_linear_icons="" button_simple_line_icons="" button_dripicon="" button_ico_moon="" icon_pack="font_awesome" fa_icon="" fe_icon="" ion_icon="" linea_icon="" linear_icons="" simple_line_icons="" dripicon="" ico_moon="" text="Places strictly limited enabling us to maintain a very high standard for each and every participant in an OpentraX program" button_text="Apply Now" box_padding="" background_color="" text_color="" text_size="" link="" button_text_color="" button_bckg_color="" button_text_hover_color="" button_hover_bckg_color="" icon_size=""][column width="1/4"][/column][column width="1/2"][edgtf_call_to_action full_width="no" grid_size="75" button_position="center" button_icon_pack="" button_size="large" text="Places strictly limited enabling us to maintain a very high standard for each and every participant in an OpentraX program" button_text="Apply Now"][/column][column width="1/4"][/column][/row]</p>