Ride to Remember: How Cycling Can Help Keep Your Brain Young

Good news, cyclists: your two-wheeled commute may be doing more than keeping your legs strong and heart healthy—it might also be protecting your brain.

A new large-scale study published in JAMA Network Open (June 2025) has found that cycling and mixed-cycling travel(bike plus other modes of transport) are strongly linked to a lower risk of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, late-onset dementia (LOD), and even young-onset dementia (YOD), which strikes before age 65.

Cycling and Brain Health: What the Science Says

Researchers followed nearly 480,000 people in the UK over more than 13 years and looked at how their travel habits (not including commuting to work) were related to their risk of developing dementia.

The findings? Compared to those who mainly got around using a car or public transport:

• Cyclists had a 19% lower risk of developing any kind of dementia

• Risk of Alzheimer’s was 22% lower

• Risk of young-onset dementia dropped by 40%

Even better, MRI brain scans showed that cyclists had larger hippocampal volume—a key brain area for memory and one that tends to shrink with age and dementia.

Cycling along seawall in Vancouver

Genetics Can Play a Role—but Cycling Still Helps

The researchers also looked at whether genetics affected the benefits of cycling. People without a genetic risk factor known as APOE ε4 saw the biggest protective effects, but even those with the gene still benefited.

What About Walking?

Walking also helped, but not as much. People who mixed walking with other modes of transport had a slightly reduced risk, but cycling came out on top as the most protective.

What This Means for You

Cycling isn’t just good exercise—it’s also a low-cost, eco-friendly way to protect your brain.

“These results suggest that choosing your bike over a car could be a powerful and simple way to help prevent dementia later in life,” said study co-author Dr. Ding Ding, a global expert in public health and physical activity.

And no, you don’t need to give up your car completely. Even combining cycling with other forms of transport (“mixed-cycling”) still led to noticeable benefits.

Quick Tips for Brain-Smart Biking

• Aim for regular rides, even short ones around town

• Mix it up—use your bike for errands, visiting friends, or weekend trips

• Wear a helmet, follow traffic rules, and stay safe on the roads

• Encourage others—cycling is better together

Whether you’re an everyday commuter or a weekend warrior, this new research gives you another reason to love your ride. So keep pedaling—not just for your body, but for your brain too.