Summer is looming and most of us have started thinking about shrinking our waistlines to try and get our body’s bikini ready. Many of us find it a real struggle to incorporate exercise into our daily routines. When the focus is entirely on shedding those pounds, it can all get a bit mundane and relentless. What made it easier for me was learning that there are numerous benefits, besides weight loss, to be had from regular exercise. Knowing this, somehow made it possible for me to make an actual lifestyle change – instead of doing my usual few weeks of exercise until I reached the desired weight and then giving up. Since it helped me so much, I thought I’d share what I’ve learned with you. So here’s six ways that exercise will change your life.
- You’ll Improve Your Posture
Regularly exercising strengthens your muscles and areas of the body that effect your posture. It will help to start improving and rectifying any problems you may have with your posture at the same time as sustaining your good posture. Yoga is the perfect way to strengthen your hip flexors, which is a step forward to correcting a forward hip tilt if you have one. Or if you suffer from rounded shoulders or a hunchback you can start to improve on this by strengthening the muscles in your upper back.
- You’ll Sleep Better
The National Sleep Foundation states that exercising regularly can help to improve your sleep. However, they also warn that exercising before bed can have the opposite effect, so do your workout in the morning or afternoon. The scientists say that physical exertion during exercise helps to regulate your circadian rhythm. And if waking up refreshed from a blissful night’s sleep day after day isn’t enough incentive to start exercising, you should also know that sleeping better will improve your immune functioning, which means a lowering your risk of becoming ill.
- You’ll Lower Your Risk of Dementia
As regular exercise improves blood flow throughout the body the chances of developing dementia caused by cardiovascular illness decreases as a result of undertaking it. 64% of people surveyed by the Alzheimer’s Society didn’t know about the effect that exercise could have on the risk of developing dementia. Susannah Spencer – a dementia specialist from Country Court Care says “What’s good for the heart is good for the head and regular exercise is one of the best ways to reduce your risk of developing dementia, so it’s worrying that so many people questioned didn’t know that.”
- You’ll Boost Your Mood
A study found that individuals that were suffering from depression who exercised regularly showed almost the same level of improvement as those who were taking medication for their symptoms. Exercise is widely known to release endorphins that make you happy. The University of Bristol found that on the day of exercise a person’s mood significantly improves.
- You’ll Protect Your Eyesight
Research suggests that regular cardiovascular exercise is one of the best ways to keep age-related vision loss at bay. The research carried out found that active mice compared to non-active mice retained twice the amount of retinal neurons over the course of time. It has also been found that there is a direct correlation between the effect of exercise on the mice’s eyesight and another study had the same findings in humans.
- You’ll Improve Your Memory
Exercise really can clear your mind. Working out delivers more oxygen to your brain as well as energy due to the surge of blood flow throughout your body. During exercise the hippocampus, which is the area of the brain that is absolutely vital for learning and memory, becomes highly active and stimulated. This is said to improve cognitive functioning.
