I don't know when it was that people started worrying more about their weight than their health. It's kind of ironic actually. A person can spend years fighting against the excess fat on their body; taking diet pills and drinking diet smoothies, eating processed "health" foods, starving themselves, doing liposuction, tummy tucks and all sorts of other horrific things to their body, all in the desperate pursuit of being a size 8. Then, thanks to all the trauma they have put their body through, they get cancer or diabetes or something else equally awful, and suddenly they question why their body is letting them down!
You only get one body. If you are going to spend your entire life trying to make it thinner, it is going to be a very sad life for you, and probably a much shorter one than you had hoped. A far more productive path to follow is the pursuit of health. The beauty of doing that is that everything takes care of itself without you having to stress about it. If you eat organic, free-range, chemical-free, REAL food, your body will be getting all the nutrients it needs and none of the rubbish it doesn't need. By default, you will lose excess body fat. If you exercise on a regular basis, your body will react even MORE positively by running at its peak performance. Everything will be operating the way it should and you will burn fat while you are sitting at your desk. It's a win/win really.
If you were wondering how exercise really makes that much of a difference to your body, well, here are some of the benefits:
- Lowers your risk of heart disease: Your heart is a muscle (in case you didn't know!) What happens when you exercise a muscle? It gets stronger. Exercising on a daily basis is going to considerably strengthen your heart, lower your blood pressure, raise your high-density lipoprotein (HDL) levels (good cholesterol), improve the flow of blood around your body, and increase your heart's working capacity which means, if you push it a little too hard, it will cope and recover nicely, as opposed to a heart that ISN'T exercised, which will probably give in to a heart attack.
- Reduces stroke risk: Because exercise strengthens your heart, it improves the flow of blood through your body which lowers the chances of you developing blot clots in your arteries thereby reducing your risk of a stroke.
- Lowers high blood pressure: Regular exercise will lower your blood pressure if you suffer from abnormally high blood pressure levels. Obesity is also associated with high blood pressure so, if you lose weight from exercising, your blood pressure will naturally lower itself as well.
- Improves oxygen and nutrient supply to your cells: Exercise helps your body to run far more efficiently. Your heart is stronger so it can pump more blood to the cells in the body. A higher volume of blood means a higher volume of oxygen, because oxygen is transported by haemoglobin in the blood. This means more oxygen AND more nutrients are reaching the cells of your body, helping it to run more efficiently.
- Reduces your risk of Type 2 Diabetes: Overweight people are far more at risk of Type 2 Diabetes. If you exercise regularly, you will not only lose body fat, but you will also lower your risk of getting it AND exercise will also prevent diabetic complications for those already suffering from Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes.
- Reduces body fat: Following on from the previous point, exercise helps to reduce body fat by building muscle mass, helping to improve the body's ability to burn calories. Obesity is a major risk factor for MANY diseases. If you can lower your body fat, you immediately become healthier.
- Prevents osteoporosis: Regular weight-bearing exercise promotes bone formation and increases bone density and strength and will prevent bone loss associated with ageing.
- Improves muscle strength, joint function and osteoarthritis: The more lean mass (or muscle mass) you have on your body, the more body fat you will burn. Muscle strength is also going to benefit you in your daily life. Things like walking, running, climbing stairs, carrying bags or kids, all require muscle strength. If you don't have it, chances are good you will strain a muscle far easier than you would if you worked those muscles a bit. When you work your muscles, by default, you work your joints and this is very important in helping to prevent osteoarthritis. Working your joints encourages them to be healthier and more mobile. You have cartilage in all your joints, between your bones. Cartilage doesn't have its own blood supply to carry away waste products. It relies on the synovial fluid in the joint to carry it away. Exercises encourages the release of more synovial fluid into the joint. If you already have arthritis, be it rheumatoid or osteoarthritis, exercise will help you to manage it better.
- Exercise plays a role in preventing cancer: A large amount of cancer deaths are related to obesity and inactivity. When you exercise regularly, your body just runs more efficiently which will speed the passage of food through the colon, reducing the amount of time that any toxins are in your body. Overweight people also tend to have more insulin, which promotes the growth of tumours. For women, exercise reduces the level of oestrogen, which is a hormone linked to breast cancer. Women are exposed to a LOT of oestrogen these days via chemicals in food and any way that it can be lowered, will be hugely beneficial.
- Anti-ageing: Research has found that it isn't ageing that kills many elderly people, it's inactivity. Your chronological age doesn't have to be your biological age. If you are exercising, you are improving the flow of blood to your brain, which improves your memory and slows down the degeneration of the nervous system making you younger than you actually are.
- Reduces back pain: If you increase your muscle strength and endurance and improve your flexibility and posture, it will help your back pain. If you suffer from kyphosis, which is a rounded upper back, and you strengthen your back muscles, your shoulders will naturally start to pull themselves back and you will find your shoulders aren't quite so round anymore, and your neck and back aren't quite so stiff anymore.
- Good psychological effect: Regular exercise will improve your mood and the way you feel about yourself. Your body releases feel-good endorphins when you exercise, and raises your serotonin levels (the happy drug!) Researchers have found that exercise reduces depression and anxiety and helps you to manage your stress levels.
- Prevents insomnia: Exercise will help you to ease tension and relieve headaches and insomnia by releasing endorphins into your system. It also helps you to gain a sense of emotional wellbeing and a feeling of being more in control, which relaxes you.
- Fitness promotes faster recovery: When you are unfit and you exercise now and then, or never, you will find your body struggles to recover. You breathe heavily, you sweat more, your heart beats really fast and you are limited in what you can do. The fitter you get, the less out of breath you become, the slower your heart beats, the more you can do. The reason for this is a lot of the points I've made above: exercise promotes more blood flow which helps your body to run efficiently. It gets more oxygen and nutrients and so it can recover faster. This will apply to everything in your daily life. If you have to climb several flights of stairs you won't be gasping for air at the top. A woman who is fit and exercises regularly will find childbirth FAR easier, and she will recover much faster than someone who doesn't exercise. That, alone, is a good reason for women to exercise more!
There you have it, several reasons to exercise. I know it's hard to get motivated, but come on, you NEED to if you are going to be around for a nice long time. I know your family and friends would definitely prefer that! You also owe it to your body to treat it well. As I said, it's the only one you have!
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