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GUEST
ARTICLE
Exercise
7
Benefits of Regular Physical Activity
Want to feel better, have more energy and live longer? Look no further than
regular, old-fashioned, sweat-inducing exercise.
By introducing a
moderate amount of exercise into your daily life, you can
significantly improve your overall health, well-being and
quality of life. And the health benefits of exercise can
be achieved by virtually everyone, regardless of age, sex,
race or physical ability.
The merits of exercise — ranging
from preventing chronic health conditions to boosting your
confidence and self-esteem — are hard to ignore.
Need more convincing?
Take a look at seven ways exercise can have a positive
impact on your health.
1.
Strengthen your cardiovascular and respiratory systems
The term "cardiovascular
system" refers to the circulation of your blood through
your heart and blood vessels. With each beat of your heart,
a surge of blood is released into your body's intricate
web of blood vessels. Blood pressure — the force that's
exerted on your artery walls as blood passes through — helps
keep the blood flowing smoothly. A buildup of plaques in
your arteries, caused by cholesterol and other products
in your bloodstream, can interrupt your blood flow and
cause life-threatening damage to your cardiovascular system.
When you exercise
regularly, your entire cardiovascular system benefits because
exercise:
· Lowers the buildup of plaques in arteries by increasing the
concentration of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol — the "good" cholesterol — and
decreasing the concentration of low-density lipoprotein
(LDL) cholesterol — the "bad" cholesterol — in
your blood
· Prevents the onset of high blood pressure if you're at increased
risk of developing it
· Lowers your blood pressure if you already have high blood pressure
Regular exercise
also benefits your respiratory system by promoting rhythmic,
deep breathing. Your lungs actually develop greater capacity,
so you're better able to take in oxygen to nourish your
cells.
Exercise strengthens
your heart and lungs. Your blood travels more efficiently,
bringing much-needed oxygen from your lungs and nutrients
to the rest of your body. This is one of the reasons why
you generally feel refreshed and more energetic after exercise.
Considering all these
factors, exercise enhances your cardiovascular and respiratory
health, and helps reduce your risk of related diseases.
2.
Keep bones and muscles strong
Regular exercise
is one of the best things you can do to prevent the bone-weakening
disease osteoporosis. Strength training exercises — such
as lifting weights or working with resistance tubes — are
particularly helpful. Also important are exercises that
bear your body's weight, such as walking and jogging.
Strength training
and weight-bearing exercises help preserve bone mass and
may even increase bone density. This means your bones may
grow stronger. By strengthening your muscles and bones,
you can also improve your balance and coordination, reducing
your risk of falls.
3.
Manage your weight
Exercise helps you
achieve or maintain a healthy weight by burning calories.
Your body requires a certain amount of energy to continue
the functions you need to sustain life. And if you exercise,
your body works harder and needs more fuel (calories).
Even after you stop exercising, your body continues to
burn calories at a modestly increased rate for a few hours.
The more intensely you exercise, the more calories you
burn.
By burning more calories
than you take in, you can reduce body fat, giving you a
healthier body composition. Losing body fat can make you
look and feel better and can reduce your risk of obesity.
Maintaining a healthy body weight eases pressure on your
bones and joints, which can help prevent conditions such
as arthritis.
4.
Prevent and manage diabetes
Regular exercise,
coupled with a healthy diet, is an important way to prevent
and manage type 2 diabetes, a condition that affects the
way your body uses blood sugar.
Exercise can help
insulin work better and can lower your blood sugar. As
your muscles contract during exercise, they use sugar for
energy. To meet this energy need, sugar is removed from
your blood during and after exercise, which lowers your
blood sugar level.
Exercise also reduces
blood sugar by increasing your sensitivity to insulin — allowing
your body to use available insulin more efficiently to
bring sugar into your cells.
5.
Ease depression and manage pain and stress
Exercise fights depression
by activating the neurotransmitters — chemicals used by
your nerve cells to communicate with one another — associated
with avoiding depression. Those neurotransmitters are serotonin
and norepinephrine. The levels of those neurotransmitters
and their balance with each other play a role in how you
react to daily events. When you experience depression,
the level of serotonin, norepinephrine or both may be out
of sync. Exercise may help synchronize those brain chemicals.
Exercise also stimulates
the production of endorphins — other neurotransmitters
that produce feelings of well-being, provide for "natural" pain
relief, and help you relax. So, did you have a stressful
day at work and need to blow off some steam? A workout
at the gym or a brisk 30-minute walk can help you calm
down.
6.
Reduce your risk of certain types of cancer
Regular exercise
helps lower the risk of cancers of the colon, prostate,
uterine lining (endometrium) and breast. Although it hasn't
been proved, researchers think that exercise helps combat
colon cancer by helping digested food move through the
colon more quickly.
Exercise lowers the
risk of breast and uterine cancers by reducing body fat
and decreasing estrogen production. Estrogen, in turn,
has been shown to support the growth of some female cancers,
including breast and endometrial cancers.
Researchers are uncertain
about how exercise lowers the risk of prostate cancer.
7.
Sleep better
A good night's sleep
helps maintain your physical and mental health. Moderate
exercise at least three hours before bedtime can help you
relax and sleep better at night.
Exercise
for health and a longer life
The strength and
endurance gains of regular exercise make daily tasks — such
as grocery shopping or doing yard work — much easier on
your body. Exercise promotes psychological benefits, too.
If you look and feel better about yourself, you'll be more
confident and have greater self-esteem.
Another plus is a
longer life expectancy. In a study of Harvard graduates,
men who burned 2,000 or more calories a week by walking,
jogging, climbing stairs or playing sports lived an average
of one to two years longer than did those who burned fewer
than 500 calories a week by exercising.
You not only might
live longer if you exercise regularly, but also might live
more years independently and with a better quality of life.
July 26, 2005
© 1998-2006 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and
Research (MFMER). All rights reserved. A single
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for a healthier life" and the triple-shield Mayo
logo are trademarks of Mayo Foundation for Medical Education
and Research. www.mayoclinic.com/health/exercise/HQ01676
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