When someone talks about being healthy, they’re speaking about both your physical and mental state. You want to stay physically fit but mentally sound as well. There are all kinds of factors that contribute to both.
The vehicle you buy can impact your health more than you think. With that in mind, in this article, we will talk about the impact owning and riding a motorcycle regularly can have on you.
If you own a motorcycle already, or you’re thinking about buying one soon, you should keep these impacts in mind. You might decide to either go through with purchasing the motorcycle, or maybe you’ll get rid of your current one based on the points we’re about to bring up.
You Can Injure or Kill Yourself
Motorcycles are far more dangerous than other vehicles, such as cars and trucks. If you’re in a car or truck, you have a solid steel framework around you, and it protects you if you strike another vehicle or an inanimate object.
That’s not true with motorcycles, and the statistics back that up. For instance, in a recent year, there were 8,031 motorcycle wrecks in Florida alone, with many more happening in other states across the country.
You can try to stay safer while riding a motorcycle by wearing a helmet and pads, but even then, you’re taking a risk when you own and ride one that you don’t take with other vehicles. That’s because nothing is separating you from the road flying by underneath you except air when you operate one of these vehicles.
Your Family Might Worry, Which Adversely Affects Your Mind State
Motorcycles are risky in other ways besides the physical. For example, if you insist on owning and riding a motorcycle, but you have a family, they might think that something will happen to you.
If you’re single and you want to ride a motorcycle, then presumably, you’re not going to worry anyone.
If you marry someone, though, or you have a significant other, they might not like the idea of you using a motorcycle to get around. If you have kids, they may not like it either.
If you think them worrying about you does not impact your health, you’re wrong. If you know they are at home worrying, you might feel guilty and conflicted all the time. It could be those feelings that cause depression or anxiety. Based on those feelings, you might decide to trade in your motorcycle and get a more practical and safer vehicle.
Owning and Riding a Motorcycle Might Give You More Confidence
On the other hand, there are positive impacts that riding and owning a motorcycle might have on your health as well. For instance, maybe you feel like you’re more attractive if you ride a motorcycle. Perhaps you have the jacket that goes with it with the unmistakable Harley Davidson logo.
Owning and riding that motorcycle around might give you a confidence boost that you might not otherwise have. You may feel like that motorcycle is a big part of your identity.
If so, you might think that the positive feelings you get from motorcycle ownership outweigh the dangers we mentioned. If you feel confident and happy when you ride, you may choose to continue owning your motorcycle for many years to come.
You Might Feel Like It Helps You Attract Attention
You may feel like having the motorcycle and being part of that subculture is good for you. You could have lots of friends who ride as well, and just about any therapist would agree that having friends that care about you is a great thing for your self-esteem.
You might meet new people through owning that motorcycle. Perhaps you meet new romantic interests that way as well. Maybe you take your motorcycle to Sturgis every year for the monumental rally that takes place there, and you love being a part of that scene.
If you think about it, you can see that there are both negative and positive impacts owning and riding a motorcycle might have on your health. That is why you will have to carefully weigh whether it makes more sense for you to continue owning one or not.
You can’t deny or discount the potential dangers, but there are some positive ones as well. If you only feel alive when you ride, that might be enough to convince you that hanging onto your motorcycle is the right move.
