6 Awesome Benefits of Regular Exercise

Exercising is an important aspect of a healthy lifestyle and it’s essential to become everyone’s daily routine. But what stops most people from exercising? Most people are not able to fit physical activity in their daily routine as they feel like they don’t have the motivation, energy or time to workout due to their personal schedules such as work or study.

Procrastination is one of your biggest enemies when it comes to exercising. Most people tend to make excuses or put it off by saying to themselves “Oh, I feel tired today, I will start tomorrow” or “I will start exercising next week”. However, we shouldn’t try to make it a habit to skip regular exercise on a daily basis. Instead, we should be able to train our minds to just do it so our bodies can get used to getting into routine.

There are many benefits that come from exercising which potentially could improve your overall health and well-being.

1. Improves Mental Health

There are both physical and mental health benefits of being active. Psychologically, exercising is effective in reducing any feelings of negativity, depression, isolation and anxiety as well as helping relieve stress.Relatively, exercising is also good for your body, mind and spirit as it could potentially change or improve your mood and mind set in a positive way. This is due to the fact physical activity releases certain chemicals in your brain such as endorphins, serotonin and dopamine which can affect your mood and thinking.

Like exercising, these aspects of mental health are also shown to be benefits of fasting as biologically, the human body is able to fast for 3 to 5 days through positively challenging the body, mind and spirit.

2. Improves Relaxation and Sleep Quality

By being physically active, it improves your relaxation and sleeping patterns which is beneficial for people who have sleeping disorders such as insomnia. Doing light relaxing exercises such as stretching or yoga can be very efficient as the energy from the workout stimulates and restores your health and strength during sleep.

It will not only help you sleep better at night, but your body, mind and spirit will feel very relaxed and stress relieved. More so, it will also increase body temperature that occurs during the exercise process and then it will drop which can promote better sleep and improve your sleeping quality.

3. Boosts Up Self-esteem

Many people have low self-esteem and feel very insecure about their body image. However, it has been shown that exercise can boost up and improve self-confidence. Exercising will give you a great sense of accomplishment and will help you reach your goals to find the fulfillment and success you want to achieve in life.Not only you feel like you’ve accomplished a goal, but you will feel a lot more motivated, confident, stronger and happier as a person. It also helps you have a better sense of well-being, a positive attitude, an improved self-image and will also allow you to develop more social interactions.

4. Helps Weight Loss

Regular exercise encourages weight loss and increases your metabolism. Essentially, in order to lose weight, your body needs to burn more calories than what you actually consume. Aerobic exercise also known as cardio is one of the most effective and consistent ways for losing body fat and increasing muscle mass. By exercising constantly and eating healthy will help you increase your fitness and energy levels, heart rate, boost up your immune system as well as help you maintain a healthy weight and lifestyle which encourages weight loss.

5. Strengthens Muscle, Joint and Bones

Running and cycling or even playing sports such as soccer and basketball are very effective exercises that will help strengthen and maintain your muscles, joints and will keep your bones healthy. You can also build muscle from strength training. It is important for younger people to exercise regularly because as we get older, there is a possibility we could lose our muscles and bones if we don’t make exercise part of our daily routine. Regular exercise can prevent you from getting inflammation, fractures, muscle strains and symptoms such as osteoporosis and arthritis. It can also relieve stress pain as well as back and neck pain.

6. Reduces Risks of Diseases

Exercising regularly can lower the risk of many long-term effects and health diseases such as heart diseases, type 1 and 2diabetes, obesity and cancer. It can help lower your blood pressure, improve your cholesterol, keep your blood flowing, heart and lungs healthy. In fact, by exercising on a regular basis, even if it’s just simply going for a 20 minute walk, you can reduce the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases.

The Bottom Line

So how do we get ourselves to start? Find an exercise you would genuinely enjoy doing. Determine your fitness goals and always remember to track your progress.

Create a scheduled plan and set reminders on your phone to let you know you have to go exercise. Wear your gym clothes or have it organized and prepared the night before so it is ready for your morning or afternoon workout.

You could also join a fitness group or class with your friends which will make you feel more motivated. If you’re a beginner, make sure you don’t overdo it! It is important to start small and slowly build your strength in order to avoid any injuries or accidents.

Make it a routine to fit at least 30 minutes to an hour in your schedule, even if it’s just a light workout, you’ll feel great knowing that you’ve achieved something!

About Shannon Clark

Shannon holds a degree in Exercise Science and is a certified personal trainer and fitness writer with over 10 years of industry experience.