We’ve always heard that regular exercise is good for our health. But do you know about the exact benefits of exercise? What role does exercise play in helping us lead a healthy life?
Does regular exercise only help us gain muscles?
Well, there are tons of essays and scholarly articles stating the benefits of exercise.
Still, people need to be made aware of how workouts can benefit them to motivate them.
So, let’s get into the details and see how regular exercise can benefit you.
Energy
People living a sedentary lifestyle often find it difficult to perform the most regular of tasks. It’s because their bodies get used to laziness, and getting up feels like a huge burden.
When our muscles aren’t being used enough, they tend to stay in a relaxed position. So, it’s important to move your muscles to keep them working without feeling tired quickly.
This also means you can get more energy because your muscles are already working and active. So, performing regular tasks won’t be an issue.
Stretching exercises are great for combatting a sedentary lifestyle as well.
More confidence
When it comes to boosting confidence, we know exercise can help a lot.
In fact, exercise is also beneficial in reducing stress.
Have you seen fitness freaks having so much confidence and talking about fitness?
When you have a better physique with regular exercise, it automatically boosts your self-confidence.
Also, it’s good to set targets for yourself and feel good after achieving them. For example, you can set targets of completing two miles in a day and then increase them to challenge and improve yourself.
Better mood
Feeling depressed or anxious?
Exercise can help a lot.
You can find many studies indicating that regular exercise can help relieve feelings of stress and anxiety. With these relieved symptoms, you feel happier and relaxed.
It is because exercise helps increase the production of serotonin, which links to a better mood.
So, regular exercise can help you cope with feelings of depression and anxiety and make you feel better.
Weight management
While the popular theories that exercise can build muscles are true, we should also remember that regular exercise can help you manage weight.
People on a weight loss journey are also fitness enthusiasts because they want to get rid of the extra calories. Weight management and weight loss are both associated with regular exercise, because it converts the fat into energy, also helping you lose excess fat.
So, we can also say that nutrition and fitness are linked. While you need to eat a balanced diet, you should also focus on regular exercise to manage your weight without starving yourself.
Better heart health
When we talk about the physical benefits of regular exercise, we see that better heart health is one of its best benefits.
Many studies suggest that exercise is good for the heart. When we stay physically active, it helps improve our heart health.
It is because exercise strengthens the heart muscles. Thus, the increased ability of the heart to pump blood helps in better blood circulation throughout the body.
Better sleep
Have you fallen asleep immediately after a draining workout?
Well, working out makes us tired, and in order to reduce fatigue and recover the muscles, we feel sleepy.
Because of this homeostatic sleep drive, your body falls asleep quickly. So, exercising before bed is beneficial for people who face difficulty falling asleep.
Apart from this, exercising is also good for people who suffer from daytime sleepiness. According to research, exercising is linked with better sleep quality and reduces daytime sleepiness in adults.Â
Increased resilience
Facing mental and emotional challenges with grace isn’t easy.
In such difficult times, fighting with your mental health seems difficult, but exercise can help you cope with it to some extent.
Instead of inclining towards alcohol and drugs, you should consider exercise.
Some studies also suggest that exercise helps improve stress resilience in humans.
Strong bones and muscles
Moving your bones and muscles is a great way to keep them working in the long run. A sedentary lifestyle might make your bones prone to damage in the long run.
So, you should involve yourself in physical activities to keep muscles and bones strong.
Jogging, walking, weight-lifting, and other weight-bearing exercises can be beneficial in this case.
With resistance training, muscles have to work harder, which makes them stronger. As these muscles grow stronger, they pull harder on bones. This muscle-bone connection helps strengthen both.
Reduced pain
For many years, we have believed that you should take rest to recover and treat pain.
However, you can also reduce or control pain through aerobic exercises.
For example, people with back pain often need to exercise regularly to keep their back strong. Similarly, movement and light exercise can help you reduce the soreness of muscles. This is especially useful for people who skip their workout because their muscles get sore on the first day.
However, in case of workout injuries, you might need to rest or consult a doctor for treatment or prevention.
Take-away message
The benefits of exercise go beyond just building muscles.
Exercise is highly beneficial for a better and improved lifestyle. Along with your physical health, it also has positive effects on your mental health.
So, it’s always a good idea to keep yourself active and healthy. Even if it’s 15 minutes a day, don’t let your lazy routine make you call off the exercise.
