Exercise is a an activity that maintains and enhances physical fitness, wellness and overall health of an individual. There are different reasons, why an individual performed physical exercise, it may include muscle building and strengthening, improving the cardiovascular system, honing any athletic skill, weight loss or just plain enjoyment. Regular physical activity helps boost the immune system, prevent heart disease, obesity and diabetes. It gives the body the needed oxygen and helps the blood absorb this needed oxygen and circulate it to the body. It improves mental health, beats depression, boosts self esteem and can level up an individual’s body image and sex appeal. These benefits are hard to ignore. With the present sedated lifestyle of people nowadays, an exercise is a way to keep people really going.
In general, there are three types of exercises:
- Flexibility exercises. It helps and improves the flexibility and the range of motion of the muscles and the joints.
- Anaerobic exercises. It increases muscle strength in a short period of time. Activities like sprinting, high intensity interval training and weight training are godly examples.
- Aerobic exercises. It focuses on strengthening and increasing the endurance of the cardiovascular system. Swimming, cycling, tae bo, running and jogging are good examples of aerobic exercises.
Benefits of Exercise
The obvious benefits are already mentioned earlier, but let us expand on it further. There are so many reasons why exercise is important especially in our modern and technology driven world. First, it controls weight. Any physical activities burn calories and fats thus it helps reduce weight If the individual is beyond the ideal weight; helps maintain weight if it is within the normal range. Second, it helps fight diseases and reduce developing risks of any health conditions. It reduces the levels of cortisol. Regular exercises also prevent and in some cases treat chronic diseases such as obesity, high blood pressure, heart disease, type 2 diabetes and depression. Aerobic and anaerobic exercises improve the efficiency of the heart by increasing the cardiac volume. Plus regular exercise can improve the motor skills of the individual and helps prevent arthritis. Third, it improves the mood of the person. It increases the brain function because more oxygen is delivered into the brain. It creates new brain cells and increases the chemicals that help cognition. The body will release feel good chemicals after a workout in the gym or over the field. Fourth, it increases the energy level of the body. A well trained and physically enhanced individual through exercise will feel a greater level of energy. The body will adjust and take in oxygen and nutrients at double the normal intake. It’s like using a race quality fuel to run a car. Fifth reason, it improves sleep. Studies were made and proves that regular exercise greatly improves sleep. It treats sleep disorders like insomnia and is a great alternative to sleeping pills which are dangerous if taken more than the recommended dosage. Sixth reason, physical activity will promote a better sex life. A person feeling good and looking the part will generate a positive sex appeal to the opposite sex.
Proper nutrition is equally important to health as physical activity. Food is the fuel the body use to run, thus it is important to have the correct ration of nutrients in order for the body to recover and adjust after any strenuous exercise. Also take note that too much of something is not good. Over exercising will surely cause injuries and body pain. Give the body ample rest to recover and heal. Enjoy it and have fun.