Everyone knows or has heard about how regular exercise is good for your overall health.
Many times people hear that advice without any real specifics. So, here are 5 ways that regular exercise can improve your health and overall quality of life:
Exercise can help people to lose weight or prevent excess weight gain. In order to keep from gaining weight, you must burn more calories than you take in through your diet. Exercising burn calories both during and after you work out. This does not give you a free pass to eat poorly, as you can never out-exercise a poor diet. However, burning extra calories through exercise, combined with a smart diet, will significantly contribute to obtaining or maintaining a healthy weight.
Being at a healthy weight not only makes daily life tasks easier but is also associated with better overall health.
This is a bunch of good reasons all rolled into one. If you want to lower your risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, depression, arthritis, osteoporosis, certain types of cancer, and other health problems, regular exercise is a great place to start. Some direct benefits of regular exercise include increased good cholesterol and lowering of bad cholesterol, leading to a healthy heart and better blood flow, increased bone density to help stave off osteoporosis, and an improved immune system better able to fight off sickness. Regular exercise also increases overall basic function of the heart, brain, and other organs that is critical to maintaining a disease free body.
Exercise can provide some less obvious benefits, including elevated energy levels and a better overall mood. Exercising is a great natural stress reliever. Physical activity causes the brain to release chemicals that make you feel happy and more relaxed. Also, as you begin to look and feel better from exercising, your confidence levels are likely to go up, which can also lead to an improved mood. Additionally, as you become more fit from exercise, your strength and endurance will increase, making general life activities less taxing, leaving you able to keep going strong throughout your day.
Do you have trouble falling or staying asleep? Exercise can help. Regular physical activity can help you fall asleep faster and get into a deeper sleep, therefore improving the quality of rest your body gets. Getting good sleep is vital to overall health, recovery, and brain function. Just be careful not to exercise within three hours of bedtime if you can help it. Exercising can raise your heart rate, body temperature, metabolism, and energy levels temporarily, making it harder to fall asleep.
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