One secret tip to lower stress

Here is one secret tip to do all of these things at once:

Lower your stress
Lose fat
Save time
Save money

Please also read the following related pages:

Stress is the number one killer

In the CDC list of 10 leading causes of death in America, heart disease is near the top of the list for most age ranges but stress is not listed anywhere. Thats because the person will die of a heart attack but the CAUSE of the heart attack is stress. Similarly, stress causes the following which can also be deadly: asthma, obesity, diabetes, depression, premature aging, and Alzheimer’s. Even worse than that is the decrease in quality of life. Stressed people do not laugh, they have trouble sleeping, and they have trouble maintaining relationships.

Why driving your car is killing you

America is automobile culture. Everything in our cities revolves around cars. We don’t even think about it, when we need to buy something or go somewhere we just grab our keys and go. The problem is that thousands of other people are doing the same thing and they all pack onto the same roads. Driving can be VERY frustrating. Stop and go traffic. Inattentive drivers. Dangerous and rushed drivers weaving dangerously thru traffic. There is a reason that the word “road-rage” is now in the Oxford English Dictionary. Driving has become very stressful and many people simply cannot handle it. They yell, they flip people off, and they take dangerous risks to save time. The veins on their forehead pop out and their faces turn red – they are a heart attack or an accident waiting to happen.

The secret tip to lower stress

Use a bicycle! Not an e-bike, not a segue, an old fashioned pedal powered bicycle. Because of traffic congestion, bikes are often faster than cars. Not only that, riding bikes is FUN compared to the frustration of stop and go traffic. Getting cardiovascular exercise not only helps you lower bodyfat but lowers stress levels. Sitting in a car is wasting time where as with biking you are getting cardiovascular exercise. Many people do not realize how ludicrous it is for them to sit in traffic 30 minutes each way to take a Zumba class “for exercise”. Not to mention the savings. Bikes dont need gas nor do they need to pay for parking.

I cant bike because …

People have many objections to biking, so lets talk about them: showers, routes, weather, safety, and cost.

I can’t ride a bike to work because I get too sweaty. Here are some solutions for you. If your employer does not have shower facilities at work (many do these days), then get out google maps and type in “gym” and look for gyms nearby. What many people find convenient is to get a gym near work, bike there and park, lift weights, take a shower, then walk to work. There is probably a gym near your work. The other option is the low-sweat option. Drive to work once a week and leave four sets of clean clothes and a new box of wet-wipes. After biking to work, clean off sweat with wet-wipes and change into your work clothes.
I would love to ride but there are no good bike routes. The reason you dont think there are good bike routes is because all you know are the fastest driving routes! Google has your solution. Get out google maps and type in your location and your destination and ask for directions. Then click on the bicycle icon. What you will find will amaze you as google will show you a clever, bike friendly route that you never thought of!
I would love to bike but the weather is too bad. There is no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing/equipment. Seriously if you are cold, you have the wrong clothing. People get this weird idea that if they get wet they will melt. There is no way possible to keep dry when biking no matter if its blue skies or pouring rain. The problem is that we perspire and if you wrap yourself in a plastic rain coat you will get drenched with sweat. When biking, the goal is simply to be warm and comfortable! When you get to your destination, you clean up and put on your dry clothes (see #1 above). If you live where its scalding hot, then wear a white long sleeve underarmor compression top to keep cool by allowing full perspiration evaporation.. If its cold, wear a polypropylene fleece coat with a zip-up windbreaker, gloves, and neoprene shoe covers. Now lets talk about equipment. Icy roads? Get metal studded tires. Deep snow? Get a fat tire bike designed to be a blast to ride on soft sand and soft snow. There is virtually no weather that is so “bad” that you can’t have fun biking with the right clothing and equipment.
I would love to bike but its not safe. In America, 110 people are killed every day in car crashes and yet you still drive. Clearly driving is not safe but we do it anyway so why not bike. Remember that you are probably 10x more likely to die of heart disease or obesity than you are of a bike accident and biking will reduce your chance of those deaths. Driving a car is like riding a bike, if you want to avoid collisions you have to be a defensive driver. This means obeying the rules of the road and not insisting on right of way when its legally yours. When you are biking, just like when you are driving, you cannot assume that when your light turns green that you can safely go – you have to LOOK. All the time people run red lights or simply dont see them because they are texting or turned around backwards taking care of an ice cream cone their child spilled. What is required to drive defensively is to have total situational awareness. What situational awareness means is knowing everything that is going on in front of you and behind you so that nothing can surprise you because you are expecting it. This is precisely why the most important safety device for a bicycle is a glasses mounted rear view mirror because the car that will kill a cyclist is behind, not in front or to the side. If you have a rear view mirror, you will see that road rage driver about to illegally pass the fossil-slow-Prius on the shoulder of the road where you are biking.
Bikes are too expensive! LOL! You are clearly trying to convince yourself of this and not us – you know its just a lame excuse. Lets look at how much a car costs and we wont even include the loan payments or lease payments. The average American spends $800/year on insurance, $1500/year on gas, and about $1000 on repairs and oil changes. A car costs $3300/year plus car payments where a good bike costs $800. Who are you trying to convince that a bike for transportation is too expensive???

One secret tip to lower stress