Top 12 Reasons to Exercise - Breathe Live Learn

 (Disclaimer : I'm not Sure if it's for you , But those of you who really care for your health and wellbeing ; And want to be fit but search reasons to prioritize exercise in your daily life  than this is for you . Also to understand few things you need to have a science background.)

Want to feel better, have more energy ,  be healthy and even add years to your life?      Than   Just exercise.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has awoken us to the dangers of a sedentary lifestyle by listing physical inactivity as the “fourth leading risk factor for global mortality causing an estimated 3.2 million deaths globally”.

Several studies have demonstrated the problems that sitting causes, going so far as to compare the harmful effects of a desk-bound job to that of smoking. Prolonged sitting has been linked to umpteen serious health concerns, including obesity, diabetes, arthritis, cardiovascular disease, brittle bones, colon cancer, back pain, deep-vein-thrombosis, depression and dementia.

👉Working out for wellness, not abs

 

In the past, every magazine you opened gave you the inside scoop on how to shed rupees and get a body like your favorite celebrities. In 2020, that’s all going to change. “People will start working out more for wellness and less so for chiseled abs. Instead of just being seen as a way to lose weight, fitness will become more about what it does for your mind and body,” 

"Instead of just numbers on a  weight scale, people will start to look to other stats and figures that matter—like fasting blood sugar, blood pressure, partial pressure of oxygen, cholesterol, and sleep—for long-term success instead of a short-term goal"

💪 12 Reasons for , why you *must* and *should* exercise regularly💪

1. Exercise controls weight -

 Physical activity helps you control your weight by using excess calories that would otherwise be stored as fat. Most foods you eat contain calories, and everything you do uses calories, including sleeping, breathing, and digesting food.

 Obesity results from energy imbalance: too many calories in, too few calories burned. Soo it's important to burn the calories through excercise.

2. Exercise improves mood - 

There is a positive link between exercise and mood.

Exercise helps chronic depression by increasing serotonin (which helps your brain regulate mood, sleep and appetite) or brain-derived neurotrophic factor (which helps neurons to grow)

3.Exercise boosts energy -

 Any exercise or physical activity that gets the heart rate up and the blood flowing and releases endorphins is going to raise your energy level.

4. Exercise promotes better sleep -

One way may be by the body-heating effects of exercise, especially when performed in the afternoon or later. 

Exercise triggers an increase in body temperature, and the post-exercise drop in temperature may promote falling asleep. 

Moreover, exercise can also promote better sleep at night and greater alertness during the day.

5 . Exercise keeps your reproductive system fit -

“Regular exercise usually has a positive effect on fertility,” says Doctors.

Research says Exercise improves your menstrual cyclicity, ovulation and fertility, decreases in testosterone levels and Free Androgen Index (FAI) and increases in sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) in females .

Doing at least half an hour of exercise three times a week may boost men's sperm count, say scientists. Men who took up running and stuck with it had more "healthy swimmers"(sperms) , according to the research in the journal Reproduction.

6.Exercise improves muscle strength-

Studies say,  Exercise improves muscle strength; Because there are more potential power strokes associated with increased actin and myosin concentrations, the muscle can exhibit greater strength.

"Inactivity ( without exercise / activity) causes a loss of muscle protein, resulting in a decrease in muscle strength. " 

How muscle get stronger ? 

Muscle hypertrophy occurs when the fibers of the muscles sustain damage or injury. The body repairs damaged fibers by fusing them, which increases the mass and size of the muscles.... stimulating anabolic hormones, which promote muscle growth and protein synthesis. enhancing tissue growth.

7.Exercise improves brain function - 

Exercise  promotes brain plasticity by stimulating growth of new connections between cells in many important cortical areas of the brain.

 Research from UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles ) even demonstrated that exercise increased growth factors in the brain which makes it easier for the brain to grow new neuronal connections.

8.Exercise is good for your heart -

Exercise helps your heart muscle become more efficient and better able to pump blood throughout your body. This means that the heart pushes out more blood with each beat, allowing it to beat slower and keep your blood pressure under control.

The best way to strengthen your heart is to exercise. In fact, if you don't exercise you're more than twice as likely to get heart disease as someone who does.

9.Exercise enhances your immune system -

 Regular exercise can boost your immune system and help fight off infections. Exercise allows immune cells to perform effectively — it increases blood flow, reduces stress and inflammation, and can strengthen antibodies.

According to NCBI - Regular exercise can enhance vaccination response, increase T-cells and boost the function of the natural killer cells in the immune system .

10.Staying active reduces the likelihood of developing some degenerative bone diseases -

Weight bearing exercise such as running, walking or weight training lowers your risk of both osteoarthritis and osteoporosis – the adage of “use it or lose it” really does apply to bones.

11.Exercise may help to reduce the risk of certain cancers -

 Being fit may mean that the risks of colon cancer, breast cancer and possibly also lung and endometrial cancers are reduced. 

Studies by the Seattle Cancer Research Centre have suggested that 35% of all cancer deaths are linked to being overweight and sedentary.

12.Keeping fit can reduce some of the effects of ageing -

 If you want to be a decade younger, you don't need a time machine . All  you need is a treadmill ,a bicycle or just a good pair of sneakers. 

Tips to exercise efficiently 

✓Keep it short and sharp

A workout doesn’t have to take an hour. “A well-structured 15-minute workout can be really effective if you really are pressed for time.” 

✓If it doesn’t work, change it

It rains for a week, you don’t go running once and then you feel guilty.

 It’s a combination of emotion and lack of confidence that brings us to the point where, if people fail a few times, they think it’s a failure of the entire plan. 

✓Don’t rely on willpower

“If you need willpower to do something, you don’t really want to do it,” says Segar.

 Instead, think about exercise “In terms of why we’re doing it and what we want to get from physical activity. How can I benefit today? How do I feel when I move? How do I feel after I move?”.

✓Work out why, don’t just work out

“Society promotes exercise and fitness by hooking into short-term motivation, guilt and shame”. 

There is some evidence, that younger people will go to the gym more if their reasons are appearance-based. Nor do vague or future goals help (“I want to get fit, I want to lose weight”). Segar, the author of No Sweat: How the Simple Science of Motivation Can Bring You a Lifetime of Fitness, says we will be more successful if we focus on immediate positive feelings such as stress reduction, increased energy and making friends. 

“The only way we are going to prioritize time to exercise is if it is going to deliver some kind of benefit that is truly compelling and valuable to our daily life,” she says.

✓The growing importance of sleep 

Sleep plays an important role in your physical health. For example, sleep is involved in healing and repair of your heart and blood vessels. Ongoing sleep deficiency is linked to an increased risk of heart disease, kidney disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and stroke.

"The trend from here on out will be to value sleep, prioritize it, maximize, and optimize it. We will likely look for more and better ways to optimize sleep quality by way of better sleep surfaces (mattresses, pillows and bedding), better soundproofing, natural lighting, better pajamas, better schedules, and more respect for our need for sleep.”

✓Meditation as part of your workout

Meditating prior to workout allows you to relax and stretch your muscles. At the same time, you can improve focus and control that are much-needed when working out. On the other hand, meditating after a workout reduces cortisol levels which tend to elevate when you're exercising.

 Meditation was more effective at reducing chronic neck pain at rest and pain-related bothersomeness. 

Moral of the story of this long article is exercise regularly even if it is for short time.