How Exercise Benefits Your Overall Health
Exercise is defined as any movement that makes your muscles work and requires your body to burn calories.
There are many types of physical activity including swimming, running jogging, walking, and dancing to name a few.
Being active has been shown to have many health benefits both physically and mentally. It may even help you live longer.
Here are the top 10 ways regular exercise benefits your body and brain.
Exercise has been shown to improve your mood and decrease feelings of depression anxiety and stress. It produces changes in the parts of the brain that regulate stress and anxiety.
It can also increase brain sensitivity for the hormones serotonin and norepinephrine which relieve feelings of depression.
Additionally, exercise can increase the production of endorphins which are known to help produce positive feelings and reduce the perception of pain.
Furthermore, exercise has been shown to reduce symptoms in people suffering from anxiety it can also help them be more aware of their mental state and practice distraction from their fears. It doesn’t matter how intense your workout is, it seems that your mood can benefit from exercise no matter the intensity of the physical activity.
In fact, a study in 24 women who had been diagnosed with depression showed that exercise of any intensity significantly decreased feelings of depression.
Helping with Weight Loss:
Some studies have shown that inactivity is a major factor in weight gain and obesity.
To understand the effect of exercise on weight reduction, it is important to understand the relationship between exercise and energy expenditure. Your body spends energy in three ways—digesting food exercising and maintaining body functions like your heartbeat and breathing while dividing a reduced calorie intake.
It will lower your metabolic rate which will delay weight loss. On the contrary, regular exercise has been shown to increase your metabolic rate which will burn more calories and help you lose weight.
Additionally, studies have shown that combining aerobic exercise with resistance training can maximize fat loss and muscle mass maintenance which is essential for keeping the weight off.
Benefitting Your Muscles and Bones:
Exercise plays an important role in building and maintaining strong muscles and bones. Physical activity like weight lifting can stimulate muscle building when paired with adequate protein intake.
This is because exercise helps release hormones that promote the ability of your muscles to absorb amino acids. This helps them grow and reduces their breakdown as people age they tend to lose muscle mass and function which can lead to injuries and disabilities.
Practicing regular physical activity is essential to reducing muscle loss and maintaining strength as you age. Also, exercise helps build bone density when you're younger in addition to helping prevent osteoporosis later in life.
Interestingly, high-impact exercise such as gymnastics or running or odd impact sports such as soccer and basketball have been shown to promote a higher bone density than impact sports like swimming and cycling.
Increasing Your Energy Levels:
Exercise can increase your energy levels. One study found that six weeks of regular exercise reduced feelings of fatigue for thirty-six healthy people who had reported persistent fatigue.
Furthermore, exercise can significantly increase energy levels for people suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome CFS and other serious illnesses in fact exercise seems to be more effective at combating the CFS than other treatments including passive therapies like relaxation and stretching or no treatment at all.
Additionally, exercise has been shown to increase energy levels and people suffering from progressive illnesses such as cancer HIV/ aids, and multiple sclerosis.
Reducing the Risk of Chronic Disease:
Lack of regular physical activity is a primary cause of chronic disease.
Regular exercise has been shown to improve insulin sensitivity cardiovascular fitness and body composition yet decreased blood pressure and blood fat levels in contrast a lack of regular exercise even in the short term can lead to significant increases in belly fat which increase the risk of type 2 diabetes heart disease and early death.
Therefore daily physical activity is recommended to reduce belly fat and decrease the risk of developing these diseases.
Benefitting Your Skin Health:
Your skin can be affected by the amount of oxidative stress in your body. Oxidative stress occurs when the body's antioxidant defenses cannot completely repair the damage that free radicals caused to cells. This can damage their internal structures and deteriorate your skin.
Regular moderate exercise can increase your body's production of natural antioxidants which help protect cells in the same way. Exercise can stimulate blood flow and induce skin cell adaptations that can help delay the appearance of skin aging.
Increasing Brain Health:
Exercise can improve brain function and protect memory and thinking skills. It increases your heart rate promotes the flow of blood and oxygen to your brain it can also stimulate the production of hormones that can enhance the growth of brain cells.
Moreover, the ability of exercise to prevent chronic disease can translate into benefits for your brain since its function can be affected by these diseases.
Regular physical activity is especially important in older adults since aging combined with oxidative stress and inflammation promotes changes in brain structure and function. Exercise has been shown to cause the hippocampus, a part of the brain that's vital for memory and learning.
Exercise has been shown to reduce changes in the brain that can cause Alzheimer's disease in schizophrenia.
Promoting Relaxation and Sleep:
Exercise can help with relaxation and sleep as it supports the recuperative processes during sleep. Moreover, the increase in body temperature that occurs during exercise is thought to improve sleep quality.
Reducing Pain:
Chronic pains can be debilitating but exercise can actually help reduce them.
Although rest and inactivity have been advised for managing chronic pain, recent studies showed that exercise helps relieve chronic pain.
A review of several studies indicates that exercise helps participants with chronic pain reduced their pain and improved their quality of life. Several studies show that exercise can help control pain that's associated with various health conditions including chronic low back pain, fibromyalgia, and chronic soft tissues, shoulder disorder to name a few.
Additionally, physical activity can also raise pain tolerance and decrease pain perception.
Improving Sex Life:
Last but not least—exercises have been proven to improve sex drive.
Involving in a regular workout can improve the cardiovascular system, improve blood circulation, tone muscles and promote flexibility—all of which can boost sexual performance and sexual pleasure as well.
So you must have understood how exercises can benefit your physical as well as mental health.
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