Did you know that 25% of adults do not get enough physical exercise? Physical exercise is essential to maintaining physical health, having good mental health, and creating the foundations of a healthy lifestyle.
We all know that exercise is important, but do you really understand the importance of exercising? Keep reading to learn more about why exercise is so important for your physical and mental health.
Help You Lose Weight
Physical inactivity is one of the main causes of weight gain. Whether you want to start a weight loss journey or just work on maintaining a healthy weight, physical exercise is necessary.
When you get daily exercise, you use up extra energy and burn calories. Burning more calories can lead to losing weight. Losing weight works by creating a calorie deficit, so if weight loss is your goal, maintaining a healthy diet is also important.
To maintain your weight, you should aim to complete 150 minutes of moderate physical activity per week. Moderate physical activity can include walking, biking, and completing yard work.
If your goal is to lose weight, you will need to do more intense activities like running, swimming, or playing sports while also eating a healthy diet.
Increase Your Happiness
Another one of the best reasons to exercise is that exercise can increase your happiness. A study completed by the University of Vermont found that 20 minutes of exercise can improve someone’s mood for up to 12 hours.
In addition to putting you in a good mood, exercise can help decrease the risk of anxiety, depression, and stress. If stress is something that you experience in your daily life, exercise is a great relief.
Exercise can improve mood by releasing endorphins. Endorphins are the chemical in your brain that promote happiness. Also, exercise makes the brain more receptive to serotonin, which can help reduce feelings of depression.
Increase Your Energy
Did you know that exercising can increase your energy? That may seem counterintuitive because exercise uses up energy, but it is true.
A study completed showed that adults that did low to moderate amounts of exercise had increased overall energy levels.
If you are someone that feels tired all the time, exercise could help. Exercise helps increase the amount of oxygen flowing through your body, giving you more energy to face the day.
Builds Strong Muscles
Another benefit of exercise is that it can allow you to build strong muscles. If you want strong muscles, you will need to combine exercise with consuming protein.
Protein provides muscles with amino acids, which help build the muscles up after exercising. Having strong muscles is important to improve your balance and coordination.
As people get older, they tend to lose muscle mass. After someone turns 30 years old, it is common for them to lose 3-5% of their muscle mass every 10 years. By working out, you can increase your muscle mass and prevent losing it.
Decrease Your Risk of Developing Chronic Diseases
Physical exercise is important because it can decrease your odds of developing chronic diseases as you age. People that don’t get enough exercise are more likely to develop heart disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer, dementia, and depression.
By working out, you can decrease belly fat, increase your good cholesterol, and strengthen your mind and heart. These benefits all help to prevent serious diseases in the future.
Improve Your Heart Health
Just like with your other muscles, exercise plays a significant role in your heart health. When you do aerobic exercise regularly, your heart becomes stronger and can pump blood more efficiently.
Daily exercise helps to decrease your LDL, also known as bad cholesterol. It also helps to increase your HDL, which is known as good cholesterol. Exercise can help regulate your cholesterol and your blood pressure.
Get Better Sleep
Getting enough sleep is important for your physical health, mental health, and safety. If you are tired all the time, you will be less likely to detect a dangerous situation. One of the best ways to ensure you get enough sleep is by exercising.
Exercise tires you out, so when you complete a difficult workout, you will be ready to fall asleep immediately. Sleep helps our body recover, so after exercising, your body will feel like it needs to rest.
One reason why many people don’t get enough sleep is due to stress. Exercise helps to decrease stress levels, allowing you to get better sleep.
Improve Your Memory
Exercising increases the amount of blood and oxygen flowing to the brain, which can result in improved memory and a healthy brain over time.
Exercise has proven to have the ability to increase your brain’s ability to generate new brain cells. By allowing your brain to generate new cells, it reduces your odds of developing dementia.
Reduce Chronic Pain
If you are someone who is suffering from chronic pain, exercise may be able to help. Exercise has proven to reduce chronic pain in those suffering from fibromyalgia pain or lower back pain.
Some chronic pain can be attributed to having a sedentary lifestyle. When you exercise daily, you may be able to reduce some of the pain that you are experiencing.
Do You Understand the Importance of Exercising?
Exercise is extremely important for your physical and mental health. There are several different benefits of getting daily exercises, such as losing weight, increased happiness, more energy, and decreased risk of developing chronic diseases.
Did you enjoy reading this article about the importance of exercising? If so, check out more related articles in the fitness category to learn more about how to improve your fitness levels!