Study claims cycling can make women 16 years younger (if they're over 50)

Forget anti-ageing cream to make you feel 30 again. Cycling is the way to knock those years off your age according to a new study. Post-menopausal women can turn back the clock by 16 years with just 12 weeks of sweat on an exercise bike, a new study claims.

The research claimed that over-50s who make regular visits to the gym and go for a long bike ride can regain the fitness they had in their thirties.

Tests on older women revealed that a one-hour cycling session five days a week improved their blood pressure and heart rate, reports The Sun. And their ability to burn fat also rocketed 10 per cent.

Professor George Brooks, of the University of California, said: "The women in our study had the cardiovascular and metabolic capabilities of women 16 years younger. The results are very encouraging for exercise without weight loss."

Sustainable transport charity Sustrans conducted a poll of British women which revealed that they do not believe that British roads are safe enough for them to cycle on and concerns for their own safety emerged as the most common reason why eight in ten women do not cycle at all.

Sustrans’ Communications Director Melissa Henry said of the poll: “Women are telling us in no uncertain terms that they don’t feel the roads are safe enough for them to cycle on. Their response so far to the woefully inadequate provisions for cyclists in Britain has been simple - they don’t cycle. In fact, 79 per cent of women do not cycle at all.