Benefits Of Exercise
Exercise is a well recognized way to lose weight. Whether you are running, lifting, biking, or playing sports, when you exert yourself and get your heart rate going, you burn more fat, build more muscle, and achieve substantially better weight loss results. Some do it to improve looks and self confidence, others say it actually makes them feel better and gives them a higher quality of life. But the question is, what are the real benefits of exercise, outside of fat burning of course.
1. Reduces stress levels
Stress is a silent killer. It can cause a number of problems including obesity, heart disease, etc. When you reduce stress, you will reduce inflammation, improve your overall quality of life, etc. Some also find yoga to be quite relaxing and stress relieving. However, of course, many find that cardio is both fat burning and stress reducing.
2. It alleviates depression
If you have clinical depression, it can be helpful. But you should not use it as your only treatment. However, if you feel down from time to time as a normal person should, exercise can get the heart rate going, produce more dopamine, and give you a slight mood lifting benefit.
3. Improves brain function and learning
Exercise gets blood flowing through the brain, not just the rest of the body. This stimulates the production of many different chemicals in the brain, and it can therefore help you to improve memory, brain function, and learning.
4. It burns more fat
This is the obvious one. When we say exercise, we mean cardio. Your heart should be beating at an accelerated level, blood should be pumping, and breath rate should go up. If all of these things happen, you naturally burn more calories and therefore lose more weight, redefining the body. Simultaneously, you are automatically working the muscles, meaning that you are actually toning your body to look better and give you a better body image and self esteem over time.
5. Reduce your risk of heart disease and diabetes
Of course, obesity is a major contributor to both heart disease and diabetes. But many find that exercise can actually lower or control natural blood glucose levels. So if you have type 2 diabetes, this along with the stress control factor are extremely important and consequential. It gets blood flowing through the heart, pumping at a higher rate and preventing and addressing plaque buildup. With all of this, exercise is the perfect way to promote greater health.