“Exercise is good for you”
Well, duh. It’s not like we haven’t all heard that before. But guess what, 80% of American adults do not meet national standards for exercise. That’s rather unfortunate, since the results of our inactivity are represented in the nation’s statistics of lasting health conditions.
There are a lot of reasons people don’t exercise: they don’t have time, the gym is too far, or maybe they simply just don’t like it. Since the frequency and type of exercise that you perform, has a direct effect on your quality of life, let me try to convince to start exercise an exercise routine today.
1. Reduce Likelihood of Developing Chronic Health Conditions
It’s not a happy topic to talk about, but let’s be real. Your body wasn’t meant to stay inactive all day at work, then go home to lay on the couch. Our ancestors were highly mobile creatures that relied on frequent and practiced mobility to survive, so our inactivity causes the body to deteriorate. This directly reflects on our individual health.
On the bright side, regardless of your age or situation, exercise can play a beneficial role in helping you ward off, or possibly even reverse various health conditions, leading you towards a healthier and happier lifestyle. Exercise has proven effective at warding off a wide range of health condition including, but not limited to: various heart conditions, type-2 diabetes, back pain, osteoporosis, low self-esteem, and high stress levels.
2. Improved Energy Levels
Now this point should be taken with a grain of salt. If you’re getting 6 hours of sleep a night then commute 2 hours both ways from your job, you have to be careful of what types of exercise you choose to do. You might just not be able to jump on those 100 pound dumbbells right when you get home from work without over exhausting your body. If that sounds like your daily schedule, then I would recommend you start out with some light cardio and slowly work your way into higher intensity exercise.
When you exercise, you push your body to produce the energy you need to keep up with your motions. For you to maintain or exceed the level of effort or energy that you are putting out, your body must adapt and improve. In the short term, you will feel more tired. You’re going to think that I’m crazy for telling you that spending energy will improve your energy levels. But by pushing your body to adapt to a lifestyle with a higher energy requirement, your body will learn to run more efficiently and smoothly.
3. Ward Off the Blues
If you’re feeling down and out, or even suffering from depression or anxiety, exercise can help alleviate the symptoms and bring up your mood. As you may have heard, exercise produces various “feel-good” chemicals in your brain. As a result, regularly exercising can help feed your brain positive vibes when you just aren’t feeling it that day.
Additionally, exercise can provide you a way to get your mind off whatever irks you. It can act as a healthy coping mechanism that doesn’t further debilitate your body in a depressed condition. Many people may turn to alcohol or drugs to alleviate a depressed state. Although exercise is unable to match the powerful effects of chemical stimulants, it does provide an easy to access and non-harmful way of dealing with highly stressful situations.
If you currently live a lifestyle of low activity, I would highly recommend you start exercising today. Taking the first step is often the hardest, but once you do you’ll soon reap the benefits that exercise has to offer. Do something as simple as taking a lap around the block. That’s not too much to ask is it?
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