5 Surprising Benefits of Exercise You Were Not Aware Of
Most of us, when thinking about exercises, tend to look for how it can help us maintain a fit body. It has more of a physical outlook to it. Although this outlook is an important factor and needs to be understood, there are also other surprising factors that many of us might not know or have not heard of before. These psychological and emotional factors play a major role in keeping us hale and hearty.
In this blog, we shall be talking about a few such factors of exercise that besides contributing to your body, also help you remain calm and happy. It is a believed notion that there is no real pill that can come even close to what exercises can do for the body and if a time comes for such a pill, it is going to be very very expensive. So, no pills. All you have to do is go through this blog and realize the power you have in you.
Here are 5 surprising benefits of exercising:
- Great for the brain: Exercising lowers depression, quickens learning and provides for a better memory. And the good news is that it helps in the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease which is a common fear for most Americans. Research has found that exercise changes the function and even the structure of the brain in favorable ways, from increasing blood flow to the brain to growth of blood vessels and brain cells to generation of new neurons. It also helps in focusing. So, exercises contribute not just to the body but to the mind as well.
- You will get happier: This is directly linked to depression. Reports prove that exercises like walking and cycling, and even outdoor hobbies like gardening, make people happy and prevent depression symptoms. Such exercises release chemicals in our brains that lighten our mood, dull the pain and relieve the stress. All this certainly makes us calmer and have a happy mood.
- Age slower: Sound too good to be true but exercise has proven to increase lifespan by upto five years. Activities like walking and cycling slows down aging at the very cellular level unknown to us. The protective caps (telomeres) on the ends of chromosomes in our cells get shorter as we age. Exercises increase the levels of a molecule that protects the telomeres, thus slowing down their shortening process. This certainly adds to a longer life.
- Our skin looks better: Especially for ladies, exercising increases blood flow to the skin, delivering important nutrients and oxygen. This not only improves skin health but also helps our wounds heal much faster. Another utility of the skin is that it acts as a release point for heat. When we exercise for long, the body muscles generate heat that needs to be released out of the body to prevent the body temperature from getting too high. The heat in the muscles is transferred to the blood that is then shuttled to the skin. Then it is released into the atmosphere.
- Recovery from major illnesses: It is a fact that rigorous exercise has helped many people recover from major illnesses and chronic conditions like heart attacks and Type 2 diabetes. Moreover such exercises are nowadays suggested much more than ever by surgeons, physicians and scientists. Here again, exercises seemed to work a lot better and were a lot more suitable solution to such diseases than medicines and pills.
These 5 points show benefits of exercising that involve surprising positive psychological and emotional effects. Hence, carrying out exercises contributes not only to a healthy body but to a healthy living.
Theresa Perez is a seasoned writer for the health industry dedicated to providing fact-based health information. She sources concise facts from authoritative sources to ensure maximum credibility and shares guidelines to lead a healthy lifestyle.