People exercise for many reasons. Some like the energy it gives them or the exhilaration felt after working out hard. Others appreciate the changes it makes in their bodies and how good they look. Most people know that working out also provides health benefits when it’s done regularly. Even when people exercise to lose weight, better health is often one of the reasons for weight loss. While seeing body changes doesn’t happen overnight, you’ll often notice more energy relatively quickly and feel less stress almost immediately after a workout. That’s because exercise is a stress buster. It burns off stress hormones and sets your body back to normal.
Muscle mass diminishes as you age unless you exercise.
The more muscle mass you have, the higher your metabolism is. Muscle mass requires more calories to maintain than fat tissue, so it burns more calories 24/7. Around the mid-30s, the body starts to lose muscle mass unless effort is put into maintaining it. Exercise is important to keep both muscles strong and protect the bones. When the muscle tugs on the bones, it uptakes more calcium, making them stronger. If you lack muscle mass and don’t do weight-bearing exercise, there’s no tug and the bone loses calcium, causing osteoporosis.
Exercising can reduce the ravages of aging.
Everyone gets old eventually and it’s far better than the alternative. What you want to avoid is premature aging, while maintaining the ability to live on your own. Exercising regularly helps you do that. Not only does it promote circulation to all parts of the body, but it also lengthens the telomeres. The telomeres are at the end of DNA and help prevent it from unraveling and cellular death. It acts much like an aglet on a shoelace. It shortens with each replication, but exercise can make telomeres longer.
The risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease is lowered when you exercise regularly.
Regular exercise helps lower the risk of type 2 diabetes and can reverse insulin resistance. Studies show that all types of exercise are good, but strength training is especially good for regulating blood sugar levels. According to studies, four months of strength training reduced body fat, built muscle, and improved blood glucose levels, but it also does much more. It helps you lose weight, which lowers blood pressure, too. Just by losing as little as 2.2 pounds, you can lower your blood pressure by one millimeter of mercury. Weight training also helps shed pounds around the mid-section called visceral fat. That also helps reduce insulin resistance and lower blood pressure.
- Are you suffering from chronic back pain or arthritis? The good news is that you can help relieve that pain with exercise. It helps build ligaments, muscles and tendons around the joints to relieve pressure, reduce weight, and relieve tightness in the back.
- If digestive issues bother you, exercise can help. It improves the movement of food through the digestive system and increases beneficial microbes in the gut that produce enzymes that boost digestion, immunity, and mental health.
- Poor posture can lead to many health conditions. If you slump over, your breathing is affected and acid reflux is more likely. Exercise improves posture, which also reduces the risk of back pain.
- Stem cells aid in repairing all parts of the body. Adults still make stem cells, and exercise increases production. Exercise also improves angiogenesis, maintaining the right amount of blood vessels. Making too few causes heart disease, but too many can lead to cancer.
For more information, contact us today at Habitat Health & Fitness