Basic knowledge of health and fitness teaches us that exercise is any movement that helps your body to burn calories while also working on your muscles. You can do countless exercises (either at home or at the gym) to keep fit.
Exercises are physical activities that require you to do specific actions to achieve the desired benefit. Some exercises you can do include swimming, jogging, running, walking, and even dancing.
“Only one in three adults gets the recommended amount of physical activity needed every week!”
What are the Benefits of Exercise?
Several studies have proven that exercises are beneficial to us and contribute to overall wellbeing – physically and mentally. Here are some benefits of exercising regularly:
Regular exercises uplift your mood.
There is a connection between exercise and enhancing your mental health. In some cases, exercises are used to assist people with depression, anxiety, and stress. Exercise regulates parts of the brain that control anxiety and stress. You feel positive and happy after a workout because exercises promote the production of endorphins, which reduce the perception of pain and enhance positive feelings.
- It helps with weight loss.
Obesity and weight gain are mostly attributed to an unhealthy eating lifestyle. It may interest you to know that inactivity is also a weighty cause of weight gain. A direct relationship has been identified between exercises and the rate at which the body expends energy. Science teaches us that our body expends energy through digestion, maintaining body functions like breathing, and through exercise.
If you decide to lose weight through dieting, what you are doing is that you are reducing your calorie intake, which directly means your body has less work to do in terms of digestion hence lowering your metabolic rate. On the other hand, weight loss through exercise is achieved through increased metabolism, which burns more calories than going on a diet.
- Exercise helps with bone and muscle development.
Regular exercise helps to build your bones and enhance strong muscles. In addition to a proper diet, specific exercises like weight lifting play a significant role in muscle building. As we grow and advance in age, our body tends to lose muscle mass, which results in wear and tear of the muscles. Another effect is getting injured easily. So, if you practice regular exercise, you tend to cut down muscle loss and maintain body strength. It also helps you look younger and keeps osteoporosis away!
- Regular exercise helps reduce the risk of chronic diseases.
Inactivity is a leading cause of chronic diseases like an accumulation of belly fat, diabetes, heart disease, and in a worst-case scenario, can lead to sudden death. Over the years, regular exercises have been proven to significantly improve insulin sensitivity, reduce blood pressure and blood fat levels. It also improves cardiovascular fitness hence keeping the heart in good working condition.
- Improve skin health
Regular exercise enhances healthy blood flow and also improves skill cell adaptation. What this means essentially is that it helps the body to produce antioxidants. Antioxidants are known to help protect body cells and slow down the rate of skin aging.
- Improved memory and enhanced brain health
Have you ever wondered why athletes often come outsmart and intelligent? Exercises are known to stimulate certain brain functions that enhance your thinking skills and boost memory capabilities. During exercise, your heart pumps blood faster, which results in supplying the brain with adequate oxygen. Also, exercise promotes the production of hormones that enhance the growth of brain cells.
- Regular exercise helps you sleep better.
Exercising can be seen as a means of relaxation and to clear brain fog whilst improving cognitive function. Your body system recuperates and regains lost energy during sleep. It was reported in recent studies that 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise improves sleep quality by up to 65%. What this implies is that people with sleeping problems like insomnia can adopt regular exercise as a means of improving their condition.
Regular exercise helps you look better!
We could go on and on about the benefits of exercise and how they help prevent diseases, but these are the few we can take in this article. An overview of all we have mentioned so far is that regular exercise improves your health, blood circulation helps tone your muscles and build stronger bones.
What Diseases Does Exercise Prevent?
Apart from the physical health benefits of exercise, doing exercise regularly also helps prevent diseases like cancer and osteoporosis. It also helps to prevent high blood pressure and bad LDL cholesterol levels. Exercising regularly keeps heart diseases away! Here are some diseases and health conditions you can help prevent and manage with regular exercise:
- Arthritis
- Falls
- Stroke
- Anxiety
- Cancer
- Depression and
- Diabetes
Why should you exercise every day?
If you need a reason to exercise every day, think of the countless benefits you can achieve from a few minutes of working out, whether light or rigorous. You can think of exercise as a time to unwind and de-stress. It enables you to explore your strengths and improve both physically and mentally. It helps you master the art of focus and endurance, which are key traits for every successful person.
Doing exercise also lets you enjoy outdoor activities that can boost your social confidence. It is also an opportunity to bond with family and friends. You can take dance classes or go hiking as a group. Joining a soccer team is also a good idea. These are all the activities you will enjoy doing as a group.
What exercise should I do, and how do I get started?
Before you begin any exercise routine, you should have a goal. You need to know what you are working towards and how it is going to benefit you. Some people do exercise just to keep fit, some others do it to build their bodies, and others enrol in fitness programs as a therapy to help manage some health conditions.
Before you get started, here are some tips to help you on your journey.
- Plan your routine and start with a short time duration
- Make sure your choice of exercise is something you enjoy doing
- Get people (friends and family) to join you – it spices things up and helps you bond (socially)
- Set goals you can achieve and don’t overwork yourself
- Don’t exercise when you are unwell or unfit
- Wear comfortable clothing for easy movement
- Increase your routine to comfortable time frames to avoid fatigue and injuries.
- Check in with your doctor if you have any health conditions like diabetes, so you know what exercise or routine is right for you.
Always ensure that you have a specialist trainer you can talk to in order not to get yourself into any unproductive routine. Bodyfit is your best choice of exercise guide. Always remember that physical inactivity is a major risk factor and can result in diseases. Keep your exercise within reasonable limits and have fun while at it. Check https://www.body-fit.co.nz/ for more resources and prompt responses to your inquiries on body fitness.
Shane Lyons 
Fitness Professional
CHEK Exercise Coach
Certified GTS Gravity Personal Trainer
www.body-fit.co.NZ