Make time for exercise or spend money on illness.

The dean of Yale Law School, Robert M. Hutchins, once joked, “Whenever I feel like exercise, I lie down until the feeling passes.” Are you like that too? Change yourself, if so. Let me tell you why.

Everyone knows that exercise is good, but what we don’t know is how good it actually is? The problem is that exercise is often associated with weight loss, with it being promoted as the only benefit of exercise. However, there is much more to it than just helping you lose weight.

Exercise can boost your mood, improve your sex life, and can even protect you from several chronic diseases. Regular exercise is not only necessary for physical fitness but also for mental fitness. What’s more, it can improve your appearance and delay aging. Exercise makes you less prone to illnesses and reduces the risk of many critical medical conditions. Therefore, it would not be incorrect to say that people who do not make time for exercise might have to spend money on their illnesses later.

Key health benefits of exercise

• It keeps you heart healthy:

  Did you know that exercise can strengthen your heart? If you want to get the maximum benefit from exercise, you should aim to reach between 50-85% of your maximum heart rate. Climbing stairs is one of the easiest ways to do it. Swimming, brisk walking, running, cycling, and dancing are some of the activities that might help you to keep your heart healthy.

• It helps regulate blood sugar levels:

  If you have diabetes, exercise can help regulate your blood sugar level. This is also essential to prevent long-term complications of diabetes such as nerve pain and kidney disease. If you are insulin resistant, exercise can make your insulin more effective.
• It improves fertility and libido: Exercise may improve your fertility if you are overweight. It is therefore recommended in cases of hormonal disorders like Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, which is one of the main causes of infertility in women. Making exercise a part of your daily regime before trying to conceive can help you feel good throughout your pregnancy, have more stamina for labour and delivery, and shed the baby weight faster. Exercise enhances sexual desire, function and performance in both men and women. It also decreases the risk of erectile dysfunction in men.

Also read: Yes, the weight matters to your fertility!

• Mood improvement:

  Studies have shown that exercise can improve your mood and reduce depression, anxiety and stress. It actually causes changes in those areas of the brain that control stress and anxiety.

• Improved sleep:

  Increased fitness also improves sleep patterns. As little as 10 minutes of aerobic exercise, such as walking or cycling, can dramatically improve the quality of your sleep, especially when done on a regular basis.

• Weight loss:

  Sedentary lifestyle can be a significant factor in obesity, and obesity can cause a lot many health complications in people. A well-balanced plan of cardio and resistance training can help you lose that extra weight.

• Bone density and muscle tone:

  Exercise strengthens bones and also firms up muscles. Walking or skipping helps maintain as well as improve bone density in people with low bone density or osteoporosis.

• Reduces asthma attacks and arthritic pain:

  Regular exercise can also help control the frequency and severity of asthma attacks. It can reduce pain and help maintain muscle strength in affected joints and reduce joint stiffness, thereby providing relief from arthritis and related conditions.

How to incorporate exercise in your daily schedule?

• Do at least 30 minutes of physical activity every day or 5 times a week.
• Your daily routine activities can be a good opportunity to be active. For example take stairs instead of escalator, take your child to play in the park in evening, or make family outing an opportunity to play an outdoor sport with your spouse and children.
• Try to find the time for some regular, vigorous exercise for extra health and fitness benefits, like for example skipping, dance or Yoga.
• Minimize the amount of time spent in prolonged sitting and break up long periods of sitting as often as possible.
• Use a step monitor—it enables you to rack up extra steps (the goal should be 10,000 steps per day).

Now that you know the health benefits of exercise, we wish you luck with your workouts and your health as well. However, for any health problem that might be disturbing your routine, homeopathy can help you take care of it. Click here to book an appointment with our expert homeopathic doctors.

Also read: You can work out every day. Period.