Exercise can play a pivotal role in maintaining overall wellness. Exercise strengthens muscles, bones and the cardiovascular system while burning calories to relieve stress, improve sleep quality and boost mood.
Finding an activity you enjoy and sticking with it are both essential components of staying physically fit. Aim for at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity each day – such as brisk walking – such as setting a timer.
Strengthens Muscles
Strength training strengthens muscles, helping you perform physical tasks of daily living with greater ease. Strength and flexibility are also integral parts of good health and may decrease your risk for chronic diseases like Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, cancer and various forms of arthritis.
Aerobic activity, which increases your heart rate and breathing rate, helps the body function normally. Aim for 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity per week along with two days dedicated to muscle-strengthening activities.
Muscle-strengthening exercises increase skeletal muscle strength, power, endurance and mass. This can be accomplished through repetitions such as lifting weights or using exercise bands or performing push-ups and sit-ups – with 8-12 repetitions counting as one set for each exercise. Exercise also stretches muscles while improving balance, thereby helping prevent falls and injuries. Furthermore, impact exercises like running and gymnastics promote better bone density that may prevent osteoporosis.
Burns Calories
Simply moving your body can burn calories, and regular physical activity will accelerate this process even more. But more of your total energy usage comes from restful functions and breaking down and digesting food than physical activity-induced calories burned during physical activity.
Exercise not only assists with maintaining a healthy weight, but it can also increase high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and decrease unhealthy triglycerides, decreasing your risk for cardiovascular and blood vessel diseases. Furthermore, physical activity improves bone health, reduces stress and fatigue levels as well as boost mood.
Exercise you choose can have an enormous effect on how many calories you burn, as can age and body composition. For instance, larger people require more energy to move their bodies than their smaller counterparts and may burn more calories this way. Furthermore, physical activity helps build muscle mass which protects against osteoporosis-caused fractures by strengthening bones over time.
Reduces Stress
Exercise can be one of the best ways to combat stress. Through physical activity, we release endorphins–natural mood elevators. Furthermore, exercising regularly also helps people relax more and feel in control of their lives which reduces overall levels of stress.
Finding an exercise you enjoy and can commit to regularly is essential to staying in shape. Walking, swimming, jogging and bicycling are popular choices; other good options include yoga, tai chi and rowing. Aerobic activity (such as high intensity interval training or HIT) should always be completed within a safe heart rate range of about 80 percent of maximum heart rate).
Even small bursts of physical activity, like 10- to 15-minute walks, can help relieve your stress. Start off slowly, gradually building up to 30 minutes of aerobic exercise per day (or its equivalent in other activities). Consider also incorporating strength training and stretching exercises.
Improves Sleep
Every regular exerciser knows that getting enough restful sleep helps us feel energised and alert throughout the day. Unfortunately, many adults don’t get sufficient restorative rest each night. Exercising regularly has been shown to significantly enhance both duration and quality of sleep for people.
Studies have revealed that those who participate regularly in physical activities enjoy better night’s rest, including faster falling asleep times and reduced wakeups during the night, as well as feeling more rejuvenated upon awakening in the morning. Even short-term exercise has shown to increase slow wave or deep sleep patterns which help us recover from daily stresses as well as encourage muscle repair and growth.
Vigorous exercise should be avoided three hours before bedtime as it can increase blood pressure and core temperature and disrupt sleep. Instead of engaging in rigorous activity at this time of night, try engaging in low-intensity exercises during the day like taking a brisk walk or other low intensity activities.
