Health Benefits of Exercising Regularly
Exercising regularly is something that everyone wants to do, but not everyone does. The Health Benefits of Exercising Regularly explains why you should exercise, and provides simple tips to help motivate you to exercise.
Stress can be reduced by exercising. Stress reduction is greatest if you exercise regularly. Exercise helps to reduce stress because it causes body chemicals called endorphins to be released. Endorphins are natural “feel good” substances. Because they are chemically similar to opiates, they are sometimes called the body’s own opium. They cause a general feeling of well-being and can relieve pain.
Exercise also contains aerobic benefits that help us reduce stress. Aerobic refers to the oxygen in our bloodstream. Aerobic exercise makes our cardiovascular system more efficient at delivering oxygen to our muscles, providing them with more energy and stamina, which improves the way we feel.
Another benefit of exercising is that it increases levels of serotonin and other brain chemicals that help you relax and fall asleep. It also boosts levels of endorphins, a natural pain reliever that helps relieve discomfort from arthritis, menstrual cramps, headaches, and other pains you might have laying in bed. But if you exercise too late in the day – especially if it’s close to bedtime – it might actually make it harder for you to fall asleep because it will boost your alertness and heart rate.
Exercise eases digestion by moving food more quickly through the gastrointestinal tract. It also improves blood circulation in the abdominal area, which is especially important for women, who tend to have lower abdominal pain when they are menstruating. When you exercise, your heart rate increases and this causes an increase in blood flow through your body. This includes an increase in blood flow to all areas of your digestive system, including your stomach and intestines. Having more blood flow through these organs will allow them to work better and will help get rid of the waste that builds up inside them faster.
Big studies have found that people who exercise regularly have a lower blood pressure than people who don’t. But the problem with big studies is they don’t tell you much about what happens at the level of individuals. A recent study made an effort to find out by following more than 2,500 people for four years. The good news is that it confirmed the findings from the bigger studies: people who exercised regularly had lower blood pressure than people who didn’t. The bad news is that this was true only if they stuck with it.
In fact, there was no statistically significant difference between exercisers and non-exercisers at all during the first six months of the study. But by the end of a year, exercisers were off to a big lead: an average of 5 points on systolic pressure and 3 points on diastolic pressure. By the end of four years, they were up to an average of 9 systolic and 5 diastolic points lower than non-exercisers.
Exercising regularly can also help you manage stress more effectively, and improve your overall quality of life as you get older. The key is finding a workout program that fits your needs and interests so that it doesn’t feel like a burden or a chore. But even if your first attempts at exercising don’t lead to a lifelong passion for fitness, there’s no doubt that being active will keep your body healthier longer.