Could Weight Loss Combat COVID-19? – Bo-Jo Thinks So!

Speaking to the Guardian newspaper, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he believes that if more people lose weight there won’t be such pressure on the NHS with COVID-19. He said, “Losing weight is hard, but making small changes can make a big difference. Being overweight increases the risk of becoming ill with Covid. If we all do our bit we can reduce our own health risks but also take pressure off the NHS.”

Fit Miles!

One of the concepts being looked at is is the ‘Fit Miles’ scheme, with the government appointing Sir Keith Mills who pioneered the Nectar and Airmiles schemes in the UK, to look at how people could get some sort of incentive to reach fitness targets. While you’d likely have to do a lot of fit miles to get an e-bike, we at e-Bikes Direct can see certain advantages. It’s early days, but check out the Independant Article to find out a little more…Could fit miles go towards discounts for e-bikes? Could riding an E-Bike contribute toward the reward?!

63% of the UK are either overweight or obese! Quite literally, staggering…

In announcing the £100 million scheme, the government put out statistics saying that 63% of the population is either overweight or obese. If old Boris is right, then the six in ten of us who eat too many pies and don’t burn them off need to wake up and get off our wide behinds to keep ourselves out of the pressurised COVID wards.

Even without that dreadful virus going round, the same press statement suggests that the obesity epidemic is costing around £6 billion a year to the NHS – or roughly 5% of its budget. These issues appear in heart problems, liver problems as well as other things like bad knees and hips.

Professor Jonathan Valabhji, National Clinical Director for Diabetes and Obesity, said: “Obesity is associated with higher risks of type 2 diabetes, heart attacks, strokes, many of the common cancers and is now linked with more severe COVID-19 outcomes, so there does indeed need to be wider action to support people to lose weight.”

Pedal Assist – Not as hard to burn off the lard!

You do hear taunts that e-bikes are ‘cheater bikes’. From the perspective of a big guy or girl, a little help in getting up a hill when at baseline unfitness is no bad thing.

One thing that is clear is that E-Bike riders go further and faster (excluding you savvy road cyclists) than they would on traditional bikes. If you couldn’t get up a hill in your town or local countryside on a traditional bike then would you refuse the extra push of a 250 Watt motor to help?

There is a fair bit of research that in encouraging people to go further, e-bikes can help blood pressure, heart efficiency and ultimately burn off the lard. Commenting his own research, Arno Schmidt-Trucksaess, Professor of Sports Medicine at the University of Basel, this indicates that the e-bike can increase motivation and help overweight and older individuals to maintain fitness training on a regular basis.” The professor continued, “Those who use e-bikes on a regular basis benefit permanently, not only in terms of their fitness, but also in terms of other factors such as blood pressure, fat metabolism, and overall mental well-being.”

Essentially, e-bikes make it fun to burn off the lard. A far better idea than getting breathed on in a gym while hating every moment! If someone’s breathing on you while you’re on your e-bike, something isn’t right…