Health is wealth! As is a well known fact that health is the most important concern of every individual. Who does not wish to stay healthy and enjoy a long life? Well, the key to make you healthy is regular exercise. Exercising regularly helps in protecting you from high BP, heart ailments and strokes, obesity, non-insulin-dependent diabetes, backache, osteoporosis, relieve stress, and improve the mood swings.
To obtain overall health advantages, it is advisable to exercise at least 20-30minutes at least thrice or even more in a week. Some effective workout types include aerobics, stretching, and activities to strengthen the muscles. But, if you are not able to perform this level of workouts, you can obtain considerable health benefits by performing at least 330minutes of moderate-intense physical workout every day.
Don’t worry if you have not been active for some time. You can make a start with less arduous activities like swimming or walking. Starting slowly helps you stay physically fit without putting much strain on the body. After your body attains a better shape, you can slowly move on to more strenuous activities.
Health Benefits of Exercise
A proper routine for exercise and regular physical activity being carried out on maximum days of the week mitigate the risk of being susceptible to or dying due to serious ailments. Moreover, regular exercise
- Mitigates the risk of premature death due to heart ailments.
- Mitigates the risk of diabetes.
- Helps control blood pressure in those already suffering from high BP.
- Mitigates the risk of colon cancer.
- Controls mood swings like anxiety and depression.
- Helps in weight management.
- Helps in building and maintaining the health of muscles, bones, and joints.
- Enables senior adults stay strong and move around in a better way without falling.
- Props up psychological health.
These health impacts of exercise have been further illustrated to provide a proper understanding:
Heart ailment and strokes
Regular exercising helps prevent various heart ailments and strokes as it strengthens the heart muscles. Moreover, it also lowers the blood pressure in addition to raising the good cholesterol, HDL (high density lipoprotein), levels and reducing the bad cholesterol, LDL (low density lipoprotein), levels. Also, exercise improves the blood circulation thus increasing the functioning capability of the heart.
High blood pressure
Regular exercise can prove really helpful for those suffering from high blood pressure. Additionally, exercise also trims down body fatness root cause of high blood pressure.
Non-insulin dependent diabetes
Diabetes can show up to be the most exasperating health problems of all. Putting it simple, affects of diabetes reflects the digestion capability of your body. If the body is not capable of breaking down the sugar, you may experience increased levels of glucose in addition to possible health problems like kidney failure, heart disease, depression, nerve damage, and vision problems. By lowering the levels of body fat, exercise helps in avoiding this diabetes type.
Obesity
Exercise is beneficial in reducing body fat levels by building new muscles and maintaining the existing muscle mass thus improving your body’s capability of using calories. Physical exercise, combined with apt nutrition, helps in weight maintenance thus preventing obesity which is the primary risk factor for various ailments.
Backache
One of the most common problems faced by us is back ache which is accrued to different causes. However, the same therapy does not show similar results for every individual. Well, for those suffering from severe backache due to incorrect posture or excessive sitting, one easy way of reducing pain may include exercises like strengthening and stretching the back. Regular physical exercise increases your muscle strength and stamina as well as improves your posture and flexibility. This is the primary factor that relieves you from back ache. Adding further, yoga has shown beneficial results by reducing the pain, disability as well as the use of pain killers.
Osteoporosis
In women, bone health forms a major area of concern, specifically for those in the postmenopausal state. There are numerous causes contributing to osteoporosis. Most common ones include excessive intake of alcohol, smoking in addition to family history for osteoporosis.
It is believed by experts that children involved in regular exercise are able to build strong and healthy bones thus making their adulthood strong and free from the risk of osteoporosis.
As adults, you can maintain the strength of your bones as well as make them even stronger by opting for weight bearing exercises like walking, running, aerobics, or any other exercise that makes your bones stronger. Being regular with some kind of physical exercise helps avoid different types of bone loss related to aging.
Exercise mitigates the risk of different cancer types
Another important health benefit of exercise includes lessened risk of different cancer types counting breast cancer, colon cancer, multiple myeloma, and lung cancer. Studies have revealed that light to heavy exercise provides best protection. Also, exercisers are at 30-40% lesser risk of colon cancer as contrasted to non-exercisers. Yet another study states that a modification in lifestyle can lessen the risk of cancer. Taking a healthy diet and maintaining a healthy weight through exercising and other things like controlled alcohol intake and controlled smoking, the evidence of cancer can be avoided.
Exercise avoids injury in seniors
For old people, falling is one of the major causes of injury and, sometimes, even death. According to studies, falls are the cause of almost 90% of hip fractures. Other than just aging, one can fall and get hurt due to loss of muscles, co-ordination, and balance. Lack of exercise can make the loss of muscle to be a cause of inflexibility and weakness thus affecting your capability of moving around with strength and confidence.
Keeps kids active
It is completely your choice to involve kids in exercise during childhood or adulthood. As per studies, girls start exercising when they have the knowledge for the same and, above all, when they see their mothers fit. Boys begin with exercise when they get knowledge about the same and info is provided to them by the father. So, it is really important to be an ideal role model for your kids to give them a healthy life ahead.
Makes you fit for various seasonal activities
If you are fond of skiing in winters and hiking during summers, regular physical exercise is vital to get a strong foundation for such irregular activities. Besides, there are numerous things that we do depending upon the weather and the season. If the base level of fitness is not maintained, you can easily be a victim to injuries during these activities. Exercising regularly provides you the stamina, endurance, and strength required for such seasonal activities that include raking leaves, shoveling snow, canoe trips, long bike rides, skiing, backpacking, and snowboarding.
Longevity
It has been found that physically active people live longer and are less susceptible to premature death. According to various studies carried out by experts that regular physical activity can make you live longer, irrespective of the time when you start exercising. Adding more to the point, the added years feature lesser chances of disability thus providing you a better quality of life with growing age.
Development of new brain cells and improved memory and cognition
Regular physical exercise encourages the growth of fresh brain cells. Studies have proved that brain parts stirred through exercise play a crucial role in improving memory and erudition. For example, senior adults engaged in regular exercise show better performances in activities like decision-making, problem solving, and memory.
Improved sex life
Many people are unaware of the fact that exercise can show such effects. For some, it may seem to be a want ad promise. But, as a matter of surprise, exercise has shown wonders in improving the sex life of many. The main benefits of exercise as experienced in the bedroom include:
- Higher sex drive and more recurrent sex
- Improved sexual performance as well as pleasure
- Higher sexual satisfaction
- Lesser problems with erectile dysfunction
Improves smartness
In addition to strengthening the body, exercise also strengthens the mind. Studies have proved that regular exercise can mitigate the chances of cognitive impairment by 30-40%. It is also believed by experts that exercise keeps the mind sharp by improving circulation all through the body and brain. This helps boost the attention and capability to concentrate.
Moreover, exercise also improves your productivity at work. Those engaged in exercise show a better performance during the day, can manage the time in a more efficient way. Besides, they also have sharper minds.
Provides higher energy levels
It may sound surprising but exercise is one way to help you if you are feeling exhausted to workout. Although the most important factors responsible for good energy levels include a good sleep, reducing stress, and having a nutritious and balanced diet, movement also contributes to be an important factor. It has been proved through studies that exercise is helpful in increasing the feelings of being energetic besides reducing the feeling of fatigue.
Psychological impacts of exercise
Besides making you physically fit, exercise also shows effective psychological impacts. Most importantly, it eases your mind. Physical exercise improves your mood by relieving stress. It has also been proved through researches that exercise reduces anxiety and depression thus helping manage stress in a better way. Just give a look to the illustrated psychological health benefits of exercise:
Reduces the symptoms of depression
Depression is a common problem faced by maximum number of people. In addition to various therapies and medications, another treatment method to relieve depression is exercise. It has been proved through studies that exercise is helpful in relieving depression by:
- Lifting the mood and providing energy
- Providing distraction from worries
- Boosting your confidence level and helping you control the mood swings
- Releasing feel good hormones in addition to reducing stress.
Lessens anxiety and stress
Anxiety and stress are very common factors to influence your physical, mental, and emotional health. However, exercise can prove to be helpful even in chronic stress. As per studies, it has been observed that regular exercisers are able to manage stress more efficiently as compared to those who do not exercise. Besides, exercise is a good way of avoiding stress, specifically if you are a consistent exerciser.
Another problem accompanying depression and stress includes anxiety that makes you feel uneasy and agitated. Regular exercise can help you fight anxiety, stress, and depression.
Enhances self-esteem, body appearance, and confidence
It has been observed that besides providing energy, exercise can also help in boosting your self-worth and confidence as well. This is because regular exercise maintains your body shape and fitness thus making you confident with what you do and say.
Improves your mood
Exercise is an effective way of improving your mood swings if you are having a feeling of crankiness. Performing 10minutes of any exercise can change your mood as it changes the focus of your thought thus mitigating the level of fatigue, tension, and anger and increasing the feeling of energy and vitality. The best way to improve mood swings is performing cardio exercise. However, other exercises also show good results.
Wrapping up, all I can say is that something is better than nothing. Therefore, go for some exercise rather than no exercise. But, more exercise can show better results. Start slow and go on slowly increasing the exercise duration and intensity. Stay fit, stay healthy!
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