Do you want to know how exercise improves your quality of life?

Exercise is a key part of living a healthy life at any age.  And yes, that’s even for gaining healthy weight.

You get so many protective benefits, not just for the body but the mind as well.

Also, exercise and healthy whole food together are used as preventative medicine. Our bodies were built to move. Staying active and eating well will help you maintain long term good health.

So check out some of the benefits to improving our health and living our best lives.

I hope you’ll be inspired to get started or carry on embracing exercise as a regular part of your life.

Benefits Of Exercise In Your Life

1. Exercise reduces the risk of disease.

You can help prevent diseases like heart attacks, Type 2 diabetes, stroke, high blood pressure, some cancers, arthritis etc. by staying fit and exercising

But you need to make exercise a regular routine.

Even if your exercise is an outdoor activity and the weather or season doesn’t allow, don’t just crash on the couch and think you’re off the hook.

Because you can replace that exercise with something else whether that’s at home, gym, pool or other.

2. Improved mood and mental health:

This is a big benefit linked to exercise.

You know that feeling when you’ve worked hard or played hard at a sport or exercise? There is that sense of success and confidence.

Ok granted, after a really hard work out this can also result in some aches, but that’s your muscles getting stronger.

Exercise definitely uplifts. It stimulates your body to produce endorphins that help you feel more relaxed and happier.

In fact studies show people who exercise regularly have lower rates of depression and improved mood.

3. Protection for bones and joints

Did you know that as we age, we lose bone mass every year?

This happens from the age of about 35 onwards. Regular exercise will help prevent bone loss and build muscle mass.

Importantly, you need this for daily living including strength, balance and posture as well as to prevent diseases like osteoporosis.

The best exercises for this are strength building exercises such as weights, running, walking, stair climbing etc.

And protecting our bones for healthy weight gain includes eating food such as milk and other dairy products, fish and green leafy vegetables.

4. Exercise increases energy.

Your energy can improve with regular exercise. In fact you’ll gain better fitness, improved stamina and you’ll also feel less tired.

Getting your heart rate up boosts blood flow and raises oxygen levels which leads to an energy lift.

And doing this regularly makes your heart and body stronger, and you’ll start to notice it takes less effort to do tasks. This is one key way of how exercise improves your quality of life.

5. Improving your appetite which can help with weight gain:

I know from personal experience that I get pretty hungry after a workout.

Generally exercising burns energy. Your body then signals it needs food to replace those calories that you’ve burnt through.

Working out also means muscles are tearing and repairing as they get stronger. This process also boosts your appetite.

And this is good news for hard gainers who may have small appetites. In this way, exercise can help with your weight gain goals. 

6. Helps with better sleep

When exercise is a part of your regular routine, it can result in deeper sleep.

Physical activity gets you feeling tired at the end of the day and this can help with falling asleep faster and catching more restful zzzzzs.

Regular exercise may also help with treating insomnia. But remember exercising too close to bed time can actually keep you awake as it may energise you instead.

You need regular quality sleep for a healthy life as the body takes this time to restore and heal itself.

7. Exercise can help with cognition:

Studies show that moderate exercise protects your brain health by improving memory and cognitive thinking. This can help with prevention of diseases such as dementia as we age .

In fact there are a few ways in which exercise helps. Firstly, exercising reduces inflammation in the body and boosts blood flow to the brain.

Second, it also promotes the brain’s ability to adapt and change by building new neural pathways.

Also, regular exercise is linked to reduced stress and anxiety which is related to cognition.                                  

How To Get Exercising If You Don’t Already Do It

Here are a few easy ways to start exercising if this isn’t already a part of your routine.

• Do something you enjoy doing e.g. running, dancing, swimming, boxing etc. That way you’ll keep at it.
• Plan time to exercise and make it a priority in your life, for example 3 times a week at 7:00am or 5:30pm etc., whichever works best for you.
• Get family or a friend involved. This makes it more fun and it will keep you motivated.
• Get started TODAY! Don’t put it off. Begin with the best low impact exercise which is walking for 15 minutes and gradually increase the time you do it.

These are just some of the reasons how exercise improves your quality of life. Don’t be afraid that you won’t be able to continue your healthy weight gain if you exercise.

And now there are so many ways to have fun while exercising. Whatever your sport, get started today.