I’m surrounded by people who love overeating, large quantities of crisps, sugary snacks with takeout food chasers at lunch. Evening crashing out in front of the telly, rinse and repeat mon-fri.

1-5 sick days a month is pretty standard, as is excess weight and lots of manflu throughout the year.

By comparison i’ve not had a day off sick in 8 years, and shift colds/manflu incredibly quickly. I’d like to put a large part of it down to biking.

So how much would you say your biking attributes to your overall health and fitness, and how does it compare to your none cycling peers?

I’m off sick much less, in hospital much more 😀

On a serious note though, having children seems to be a much better indicator of likely hood to be off sick. I know I suffer with sickness much more now the germ exchange is back in term time.

By comparison i’ve not had a day off sick in 8 years, and shift colds/manflu incredibly quickly. I’d like to put a large part of it down to biking.

Children? Bet not. Biohazards.

I imagine diet has a bigger effect than exercise.

i have had about 12 weeks sick in the last 5yrs, including 4 operations.

cycling is far from good for some people.

I can crush walnuts with my buttocks don’t have sick days for flu but did have a week of with a brken shoulder.

I don’t seem to get less colds and flu than my colleagues and sometimes it hits me like a tonne of bricks to be honest.

I do have kids, and my wife until her maternity leave for the second one started was working as a childminder.

I also don’t eat particularly well if I’m honest. Too much convenient junk food to keep my energy levels up in the office.

Compared to some of my peers of similar age, though, I’m in pretty good shape, and I know I can go out and do stuff (walk up a mountain etc.) that they struggle with.

Edit – 1 to 5 sick days a month? Ok, far less than that for me. 1-2 a year at a guess.

And 5 days a month off sick? These people still have jobs?

I’ve had 7 days off sick in 10 years of working:
– two of those were a biking injury (dislocated collarbone)
– one was bronchitis from riding in the rain with a chest cold
– another was from an infected cut on my ankle caused by bike shoes
– one was a bug caught from a friend’s baby
– one was a big caught from my baby son
– last one was from eating too much cheese

Our office is pretty healthy – people don’t have time to be sick, or even to eat.

I’m overweight and eat too much crappy food but hardly ever get sick and ride bikes so which category do I fit in?

Post 40 I’ve suffered way more in my health – lots of virus’ and generally feeling knackered but equally I’m doing about 15hrs a week mountain biking.

I can’t seem to remove bugger all weight either , nearly at 5000 miles for the year – 6lbs drop in 9 months.

I’m not sure of too many health benefits from it all that said I feel crap when I’m not riding so maybe just keep going.

I think moderate exercise is where it’s at for health.

I tend to see the GP for insect bites/gone sceptic and one weird chest infection three years ago.

Off sick? Only migraines.

What rone said^^^

Lots if cycling mates who are fitter than me seem to overdo it, then lose 5-6 weeks off the bike, even if they don’t miss work.

I’m more generally knackered now I’m mid 40s, harder to recover from a hard ride or series of rides, more exposed to bugs from the kids. Usually have a couple of colds a year, maybe 1-2 days off work with whatever tummy bug the kids bring home.

Mind you, I’m the wrong side of 12 1/2 stone at 5’9″, and on track for 5,000 miles this year, diet is as important as exercise

Might have agreed… Until my kids started nursery and then school.

Just recovering from a boot of norovirus as it happens.

Working on a team with mostly contract staff at the moment. If you’re not working you’re not getting paid. Almost zero time off sick and not much holiday taking either. Nothing to do with fitness!

Working on a team with mostly contract staff at the moment. If you’re not working you’re not getting paid.

I remember a bunch of us telling one contractor to piss off home as he was dribbling snot all over his keyboard trying to infect the entire office.
If your fit work, if your not stay at home.

Had all of a couple of weeks sick in +25 years of working, plus a week off work after an accident (I couldn’t drive for a month but worked from home – ran a global team).

But didn’t start cycling until 10 y/o, and have 3 (grown-up) kids.

Everyone else in my current team isn’t fit (one is fat and another is huge – as in if she was half her weight she’d still be obese) and take a fair bit of sick off, although less than the NHS average.

On a serious note though, having children seems to be a much better indicator of likely hood to be off sick

+1

From memory, I had about 1 day off in seven years pre kids. Now it’s averaging around 2-3 days each year. Bloody kids 🙂

how much would you say your biking attributes to your overall health and fitness…

My biking is part of a lifestyle thing – I’m active, I eat well and take great care of #1

…and how does it compare to your none cycling peers?

I’m a freak

Kids definitely play a part in your sickness, I too had zero sick days until kids came along, the stomach bugs and colds would hit me like a train. Only now they are 7 years old have I survived a year without an incident. I would say that any moderate exercise places you in a better position, especially for making your core strength better, so many people in 40s have back pain related sickness and a lot of it is due to a sedentary lifestyle and bad diet.

‘m surrounded by people who love overeating, large quantities of crisps, sugary snacks with takeout food chasers at lunch. Evening crashing out in front of the telly, rinse and repeat mon-fri.

1-5 sick days a month is pretty standard, as is excess weight and lots of manflu throughout the year.

By comparison i’ve not had a day off sick in 8 years, and shift colds/manflu incredibly quickly. I’d like to put a large part of it down to biking.

I am one of the above people apart from the time off sick. In the past 7 years I have gone home sick twice and not come into work, because my wife was too ill to look after the kids, once.

For me cycling helps my mental health, without it I would be in the loony bin. It also means I can get away with eating a lot more junk food than I otherwise would have.