Reasons Why Exercise is Good for Your Health

Do you want to improve your health? Want to Lose weight or build muscle? Exercise is key to healthy living. There are many ways to incorporate exercise into your life, and it’s always a good idea to make healthy lifestyle changes for the long-term benefits.

Exercise is often seen as a chore that most people are required to do in order to stay healthy, but it may surprise you to learn that exercise has many benefits. For example, exercising is good for your bones, heart, and muscles. It also helps with weight loss and can help prevent diseases like type 2 diabetes. Here are ten reasons why exercise is good for your health:

Reasons why exercise is good for your health

1. You’ll Live Longer

According to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), adults should aim to exercise at least 2 hours and 30 minutes per week. Doing so can help you live longer, as well as decrease your risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, depression, obesity, and breast cancer risk. If this sounds like too much time exercising each week for you, consider breaking them up into smaller sessions throughout the day.

2. You’ll Have More Energy

If you’re not exercising, it’s likely that you’re tired and cranky. Regular exercise can help boost your energy levels, along with improving your mood and quality of life. Exercise can also help speed up your metabolism and promote healthy sleep patterns, which are important for healthy living.

3. You’ll Lose Weight 

When you burn more calories than you consume, weight loss is sure to follow. This concept has been popularized by countless fad diets over the years, but they neglect to mention that healthy eating alone won’t get you slim—you have to balance out caloric intake with activity through exercise. The CDC recommends doing a combination of aerobic exercises (such as running or swimming) and muscle-strengthening exercises at least two days a week for healthy living.

4. You’ll Improve Your Balance and Coordination 

Just as with your energy levels, regular exercise can also improve healthy brain function. As you age, it becomes more difficult to carry out everyday tasks without some help from others. Although aging is normal and healthy, healthy living can make those later years easier and better than ever before! Exercising regularly can increase your coordination and balance and decrease the risk of falls that often come with getting older.

5. You’ll Better Manage Stress

Exercise can effectively reduce stress over time, although that doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t feel stressed after a strenuous workout! A University of the study found that moderate-intensity workouts reduced stress and negative moods in healthy adults. One theory holds that exercise can help produce endorphins, which relieve pain and lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

6. You’ll Improve Your Heart Health

Exercise is essential for healthy living, as it plays a key role in cardiovascular health. According to the CDC, regular physical activity can reduce your risk of heart disease by 30% or more. Even those who aren’t at high risk for developing heart disease should aim to exercise at least two days per week. Additionally, regular exercise has been shown to reduce blood pressure and rest heart rate while strengthening the heart muscle!

7. You’ll Sharpen Your Mind

Mental acuity is one perk you might not expect from healthy living, yet it’s a benefit that many enjoy. While healthy eating and exercise alone aren’t proven to improve your brain power, there are other healthy lifestyle factors that can help. For example, healthy living is associated with lower rates of the neurodegenerative disease Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia in which mental deterioration is marked by memory loss and cognitive decline.

8. You’ll Sleep Better 

Getting enough shut-eye each night is one healthy habit you should never break! A study conducted at Berkeley found that sleeping less than 7 hours per night could increase how much fat we store around the belly area because sleep deprivation disrupts metabolism and encourages the production of hunger hormones such as ghrelin. Of course, healthy living doesn’t just encourage healthy sleeping patterns; healthy living improves sleep quantity and quality, giving you healthy energy levels throughout the day.

9. You’ll Boost Your Immune System

Regular exercise can help strengthen your immune system, making healthy living much easier. Research has shown that exercising regularly can decrease the number of times you catch a cold or other illness each year and reduce symptoms when you do get sick. Learning to take care of yourself through healthy eating and exercise is one way to stay healthy for life!

10. You’ll Be More Productive at Work or School

When you’re feeling less sluggish throughout the day because of healthy living habits like regular exercise, healthy eating, and adequate sleep, you will be more productive at work! One study found that healthy adults performed better on mental tasks after moderate exercise than before exercise. Productivity doesn’t just come from more hours at the office, so healthy living is key to boosting your daily accomplishments!

Bottom line

Exercise is good for your health. It can help you live longer, reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke, prevent type 2 diabetes, lower blood pressure levels, maintain a healthy weight level or even reverse obesity-related disorders like metabolic syndrome. The benefits are vast, so it’s no wonder that almost everyone wants to exercise more often, but many don’t know how to do it effectively. Here are some tips on getting started with an effective workout program:

1) Make sure you’re exercising in 30-minute increments at least three times per week;

2) Keep track of what exercises you’re doing by using apps like Fitocracy

3) Use this post as inspiration when planning out your workouts!