Health Benefits of Riding ATVs

Whether it’s enjoyed for leisure, sport or both, ATV riding provides physical and mental health benefits, some of which are obvious and others you wouldn’t imagine. 

It’s no secret that riding quads is a fun activity that can also be dangerous. However, the dangers of ATV riding don’t cancel out the health benefits it provides. Here are some physical and mental health benefits of riding ATVs.

Physical Health Benefits of ATV Riding

Fitness

Staying healthy and fit is a surprising benefit to ATV riding, considering it’s an activity that requires a lot of sitting. Riding an ATV involves a lot of physical movement when handling rugged offroad trails and tracks, especially sand dunes. Think about how hard it is to trudge through beach sand, and now picture maneuvering a 1,000 pound vehicle up endless hills of the stuff, or through a boggy trail of mud pits.

We’re not doctors here so we’ll spare you the “studies show” verbiage, but riding ATVs once a week is a proven activity for improving skeletal and muscular fitness. While ATVs are easy enough to master, it still requires plenty of endurance through the use of leg and arm muscles. Typical ATV rides last a couple of hours, and it’s a great cardiovascular activity that requires plenty of lifting, turning and overall stamina.

Heart Health

With fitness comes heart health, and as such ATV riding helps keeps your heart healthy by improving your heartrate. The constant movement required to ride an ATV improves blood circulation, which in turn decreases the chances of getting high blood pressure and a heart attack.

Vitamin D

Popularly known as “the sunshine vitamin,” Vitamin D promotes a healthy immune system, as well as bone density. Riding ATVs regularly helps you get some of that Vitamin D from riding in sunlight. Of course, in order for sunlight to be a health benefit versus a health risk, you still need to wear plenty of sunscreen. To get a healthy dose of Vitamin D without overexposure to sunlight, early morning ATV rides are best. 

Mental Health Benefits of ATV Riding

Provides Stress Relief

Aside from the physical benefits ATV riding provides, there are also mental health benefits like stress relief. Quad riding requires your full concentration, which helps keeps your mind off of life stresses like paying bills and cleaning your house. Spending time outdoors and around nature is known to boost serotonin, which reduces stress. ATV riding is a great way to not only take in some fresh air, but to also get an adrenaline rush from the thrill of riding.  

Improves Your Social Life

A healthy social life is great for your mental health, and riding ATVs opens up doors to joining dedicated social groups and make new friends to go on adventures with. Whether it’s racing or exploring trails together, having a friend or a group to ride ATVs with does wonders for your social life, and creates opportunities to plan activities around it. Once you’re hooked and you’ve found fellow riders to enjoy it with, ATV riding becomes a lifestyle!

Makes a Great Hobby

We know we’re playing with fire here by using the word “hobby” in an article about ATV riding, but hear us out. Hobbies are great for mental health. While ATV riding is very much a lifestyle for most, some people just need an activity to pass the time. For those who don’t want to commit to the quad-riding lifestyle but are merely seeking a hobby to keep them occupied, ATV riding is a solid option. 

ATVs are easy to learn how to ride, and it’s a family-friendly activity that parents can involve their kids with. After all, children need hobbies too, and introducing them to ATV riding at an early age can develop into them embracing it as a lifestyle of their own down the road.  

It's Fun!

Plain and simple and perhaps most important of all: ATV riding is a hell of a lot of fun! And what better way is there to stimulate your mental health than having fun? Life is all about experiences, and few activities measure up to ATV riding when it comes to creating new, exciting adventures. 

Having fun goes hand-in-hand with stress relief. And hey, we’re not afraid to be redundant here, so we’ll say it again: ATV riding is fun!