Health Benefits of Regular Exercise

It is most likely that you must have heard about exercise for at least once in your lifetime. It is also very likely that you must have come across people who engage in some sort of exercise, either around your neighborhood or on TV. You may jeer it off whenever the issue of exercising is presented before you by asking “why should I exercise as slim as I am?”, or you excuse yourself by saying you don’t have the time or energy. The truth is that, no matter your shape, size, or how physically fit you feel you are, regularly exercising is very good for you, and poses various benefits for your health.

To enlighten our readers on why they should engage in exercise as part of their life routines, we have decided to highlight Top 5 Health Benefits of Regular Exercise, hoping that you will be educated on why you need regular exercise irrespective of how comfortable (or uncomfortable) you feel with your body.

Firstly, What is Exercise?

According to WHO, Exercise is a subcategory of physical activity that is planned, structured, repetitive, and purposeful in the sense that the improvement or maintenance of one or more components of physical fitness is the objective. Exercises can also be done for the sake of weight loss, growth improvement, or simply for leisure purposes.

What are the Types of Exercises?

There are  different types of exercises. As we have already mentioned above, exercise refer to all the physical activities that are performed with the human body for various purposes. Some exercises are done for muscle building, while some are done for weight loss. Generally, there are three main classes of exercises. They include:

• Aerobic Exercise – These are exercise types that are done with the goal of improving cardiovascular endurance. Examples include: Running, Skipping, Walking Swimming, Dancing, Playing sports, etc
• Anaerobic Exercise – These types of exercises are done for improvement in strength and increase in muscle mass and body tone. Examples include: Weightlifting Push-ups, Squats, Pull-ups, etc
• Flexibility Exercise – The third class of exercises involves any physical activities that is done to stretch and relax the muscles, improve joint flexibility and so on.

All the three class of exercises are carried out towards a similar goal – for the benefit of the human health.

Top 5 Health Benefits of Regular Exercise

1. Exercise Develops your Brain

The brain and the nervous system are responsible for controlling almost everything a human body does. You are able to walk about your street, laugh and eat because you have a functional brain. Exercises doesn’t just improve your body, but also helps your brain to function properly. Exercise increases energy levels and makes the body produce certain chemicals (such as serotonin) that are beneficial the brain. This leads to to a good mental well-being and also mental clarity. Exercising also helps to prevent some diseases like Alzheimer disease which kills brain cells and causes the brain to lose functionality.

For a healthy, happy, functioning brain, it is very important that you should consider exercising, and make it a habit.

2. Exercise Controls your Weight

Practically,many people only start exercising when they start to overgrow their clothes or when other people have constantly reminded  them of how much weight they’re putting on. As a result they only exercise for a few times and get back to their unhealthy lifestyle. This is very wrong. Exercising frequently helps to keep your body weight in check.

If you have a lot of body mass and you wish to reduce your weight and keep in shape, it is advisable for you to engage in Aerobic Exercise as regular as possible. Aerobic Exercise helps to burn out excess body fats and help you shred off weight why boosting your cardiovascular system and it’s functionality.

If you are skinny and you need to put on some weight, you do not have to neglect running, jogging, walking or other forms or Aerobic exercises because it is popular belief that only fat people should do aerobics. You have to make up your mind to carry out Aerobic exercises in order to keep your heart and lungs healthy. Aerobics also helps to build your endurance, which prepares you for Anaerobic exercises which you should do frequently so as to gain weight through weightlifting, squats, and other Anaerobic exercises.

Depending on whether you want to lose weight, gain weight, or maintain your current weight, exercises regularly is good for your physique. You just have to make sure you exercise according to a plan which suits your body type so as to achieve your desired goal.

3. Exercise fights diseases

We’re not saying that exercises control or cure diseases, we’re simply saying that exercises helps to prevent and control disease.

We have written about how exercise helps to fight against Alzheimer disease. Aerobic exercises which are done for cardiovascular endurance and wellness are good for the heart, and helps to prevent cardiovascular disease by improving blood circulation which increases the level of oxygen in your body. This minimizes the risk of heart diseases and heart attack, and also prevents stroke.

Exercising also tends to help your insulin more effectively lower blood sugar levels and cut down your risk of diabetes. Engaging in regular exercise can reduce your risk of some types of cancer such as lung, uterine, colon and breast cancer.

Recent evidence shows that most chronic diseases can either be prevented or carefully managed by regular exercise.

4. Exercise is good for your physique

Engaging in exercise can do well for your physical appearance. Either it helps you to lose weight or helps you to gain weight, exercise helps to remold your physical structure and give your body a better tone.

Regular exercise like weightlifting and running along with appropriate protein intake can help you build muscles as well as healthy bones.

This is generally good for your physique, strength, posture, body shape and balance.

5. Exercise is good for your skin

As we grow older, so does the cells on our skins too. Blood transports oxygen and nutrients to the cells and organs in our bodies, as well as our skins. Exercise increases the flow of blood in the body. This means that by this action of increased blood flow, our skin receives more oxygen and nutrients from the blood. This helps to repair worn-out cells, and rebuilds the skin while preventing a fast aging of our bodies.

In addition, blood flow and sweat flushes away waste products from the skin. This makes the skin clean and more radiant. This action can be increased by regular exercise.

There’s More!

Exercising regularly has many benefits to everyone.Exercising improves your sleep if you’re the type of person that struggles to find sleep. It sharpens your brain and helps you think faster. According to New York Times, Even a single workout may make our brain’s memory centers, like our muscles, more fit.

Your heart and other vital organs are improved upon regular exercise, therefore, on the overall, your chances of living longer is increased.

When you exercise regularly, your endurance and energy level is increased to engage in other physical activities. This feature can also be utilized during sex as you will have the stamina for an improved sexual life.

Exercise is also fun. Playing football and other sports, skipping, swimming and so on are leisure activities for some people. This helps to brighten their mood, make them happy and keep them within a social space with other people, while at the same time providing benefits to their health and well-being.

So what are your experiences from exercising regularly? What are the reasons why you would not exercise? You can let us know in the comments section below.