Everybody knows that exercise is good for us and that we should be doing it if we want a long healthy life, and most of us don’t. It’s understandable, people have work, school, appointments, meetings, etc. But it’s never too late to start. Exercise is defined as any bodily activity that enhances or maintains physical fitness and overall health and wellness. It’s a physical activity that is planned, structured, and repetitive with the goal of conditioning any part of the body used to maintain health or maintain fitness. Exercise is one of the most valuable and rewarding things an individual could incorporate into their daily routine.
Exercise has a tremendous amount of health benefits and can do nothing but help you. It improves your physical and mental health.
Exercise improves your overall mood for your brain releases endorphins as you exercise. We’ve all heard of a runner high but this doesn’t just happen when one is running or performing any aerobic exercise, they experience a high similar to THC. The cool thing is it’s totally natural and makes you feel fantastic. One of the coolest things about exercising is that you can totally invent your own exercises that work for you, after all, no one knows you better than yourself and only you can know how you can enjoy workouts and exercises by experimenting with gym equipment or cardio/lifting intervals and seeing which ones work for you the best, just get creative.
Another interesting thing is that it doesn’t matter just how hard you exercise because if you went from stagnant to as low as 20-30 min/day you’re already improving yourself significantly. So here are a few reasons why you should incorporate regular exercise into your life.
Improves Physical Health
Exercise undoubtedly improves your overall fitness. Exercising builds bone density and your muscles. When you’re lifting weights or performing any type of resistance training, you are building your muscles. Activities such as running, gymnastics, or soccer have been shown to build bone density. Regular Exercise also prevents your risk of cardiovascular disease for you’ll be constantly reducing your body’s workload and making it stronger.
When you’ve done your preferred training, and you feel sore and your limbs feel like noodles, that means you’ve worked your muscles out and they are in the beginning stages of growth. Muscle growth happens in your sleep so remember to get at least 8 hours of it. You won’t look like a model overnight but with enough training and time dedicated, you will look better than you would have ever imagined, and it was all because of you.
Improved Mental Health
30-minute Regular exercise improves your brain function. As you exercise your heart rate is increased, thus sending blood flow and oxygen to the brain at a faster rate. As you exercise your brain releases chemicals such as endorphins & serotonin which in turn improve your mood. Regular exercise reduces stress, depression, and anxiety. Even a modest amount of exercise benefits your mental health.
A study done by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that running for 15 minutes a day or walking for an hour reduces the risk of major depression by 26%. With such an improved mood, and the noticeable improvement in physical health, your self-esteem goes up making you a happier and more confident person. You’ll be able to perform physical activities and a certain intensity that you wouldn’t have been able to do before and that is a fantastic feeling.
Improved Sleep
It won’t happen after a day but a few weeks of regular exercise will significantly improve your sleeping habits and quality of sleep. As you exercise you are exerting energy and tiring your body. The more strenuous the exercise session, the longer time you spend in the deep sleep phase, the most restorative phase in your sleeping cycle. Your sleeping time will increase for your body is making up for the energy exerted. The more energy exerted, the longer your sleep time, kind of like charging your phone, the more you use it, the longer it charges.
This is especially beneficial to people who have insomnia or other sleep disorders. Everyone has their own schedule and life to live so finding time to exercise will vary for each individual person but go ahead and do some research on what is good for you. remember, there is always too much of everything and exercise is one of them so avoid overtraining. What you do or eat after a workout is important so follow these tips for successful post-workout recovery and enjoy your long, healthy life.
