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Want To Protect Your Brain As You Age? Research Says To Start Pedaling
If you need one more reason to hop on your bike this week, here it is: Regular cycling could help protect your brain against dementia.
New research1 followed nearly half a million adults over 13 years and found that those who biked regularly had a significantly lower risk of developing dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease. Brain scans also revealed that people who cycled had larger hippocampal volumes, the part of the brain responsible for memory and learning.
While the connection between physical activity and brain health isn’t new, this study suggests there may be something uniquely powerful about cycling, especially when it’s built into your daily life.
How movement patterns influence cognitive health
Researchers wanted to see how different modes of transportation were linked to brain health over time, focusing on dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and brain structure.
Participants were asked how they usually got around in their day-to-day lives, like running errands or visiting friends, excluding their commute to work. Based on their answers, researchers grouped them into four categories:
- Those who mostly used passive transportation (like the bus or train)
- Those who primarily walked
- Those who mixed walking with other forms of travel
- And those who biked or combined biking with other modes.
Over the next 13 years, researchers tracked their health records and brain scans to see who developed dementia and how their brain structure changed. And the results are compelling...
They found that those who cycled regularly had a 19% lower risk of all-cause dementia and a 22% lower risk of Alzheimer’s compared to nonactive travelers. Those who biked also had a larger hippocampus, a part of the brain that’s known to shrink early in Alzheimer’s disease.
Why cycling might be so protective
It’s well-established that physical activity is one of the most powerful tools we have to preserve brain health. But not all movement affects the brain in the same way.
Cycling stands out because it’s not only physically demanding; it also requires balance, coordination, and spatial awareness. These added layers of mental engagement may help explain why biking had a stronger link to brain health than walking alone in this study.
Brain imaging showed that cyclists had greater hippocampal volume, a key indicator of healthy cognitive function. This suggests that biking might actually help strengthen the brain’s memory center over time.
Walking vs. cycling
Interestingly, walking by itself didn’t show the same protective effects against Alzheimer’s. However, walking combined with other types of transportation (like driving or cycling) did appear more beneficial, possibly because of the added complexity or variation in movement.
Even driving showed some associations with lower dementia risk, likely due to the cognitive demands it places on the brain. Navigation, decision-making, and staying alert behind the wheel all require brainpower, something that passive forms of transport like riding the bus or train don’t demand as much.
But overall, cycling still offered the clearest benefits, especially when it came to brain structure and long-term cognitive resilience.
The takeaway
If you're looking for a simple, low-cost way to support your brain health, it might be time to bring your bike out of storage. Whether it’s part of your daily routine or something you do on weekends, cycling engages both body and brain in a way that may help preserve memory and reduce the risk of dementia as you age.
This study builds on the growing body of evidence that movement matters and that how we move through the world can shape our cognitive health. You don’t need to be training for a triathlon to get the benefits. Just making biking a regular part of your lifestyle could be a meaningful step toward protecting your brain for the long haul.