Do you want to feel better and have more energy? Regular physical activity has often been championed as a way to stay ahead and feel better in general. There are multiple reasons to engage in regular physical activity. Whether that is to enhance one’s physical capabilities, aesthetic appeal, physical or mental health, or overall performance in life and sports. As a chiropractor, part of what we do is to promote regular exercise as an element of a healthy lifestyle.
There are several benefits of regular physical activity. Regardless of one’s age and physical capability, exercise is good.
Your ability to learn, think, and make decisions suffer as you age. However, regular exercise has been shown to help maintain a sound mind along with a healthy body. Additionally, it can improve your sleep and lessen anxiety and sadness. Importantly, your overall quality of life may be improved.
Some may think that dieting is the best way to maintain physical fitness. A healthy diet is essential, but one must also pay attention to exercise. A balance of eating right and physical activity has many health advantages for the body and mind.
This article will go through several benefits of physical exercise that can have a positive impact on most people’s lives.
Quick Facts
We’ve all heard it over and over, exercise is good, and being lazy is bad. However, this article is about more than that. We’re here to back those claims with actual research, and here’s briefly what it says about the benefits of exercise:
- Reduce your chances of developing type 2 diabetes.
- Lower the chance of a heart attack.
- Reduce blood pressure and cholesterol levels.
- Maintain a healthy weight, feel more energised, recover quickly from an illness or bed rest, and have stronger muscles, bones, and joints with a decreased risk of osteoporosis.
- Boost your mood, unwind, and sleep better.
Weight Management
Exercise will aid in weight loss or help you avoid gaining too much weight by the calories being burnt. Research has shown that the more you work out, the more calories you burn.
Going to the gym regularly is helpful, but if you don’t have that opportunity, there are other alternatives. Whether it is going for a daily walk or bodyweight training, there are plenty of free tutorials available online.
Any level of activity is better than none. There are plenty of opportunities in the real world to stay active. Use the stairs rather than the elevator or do your dishes by hand rather than using a dishwasher. Things in our day-to-day lives which have strived to make it easy have also made us lazier. Taking a conscious decision to do the “dirty” work is just one of the many benefits of regular physical activity.
Staying in shape will help prevent the common range of motion issues people often visit a doctor of chiropractic for.
A Sound Mentality – Enhanced Mood
Exercise has been shown in several studies to be beneficial for treating depression. Exercise can boost your confidence with social interactions and help overcome everyday challenges.
This is because your physical and mental states are symbiotically connected. Exercise alters the amounts of serotonin, and endorphins, and lowers stress hormones in your brain. These chemicals will improve mood and regulate sleeping habits.
Yes, we admit that getting started and maintaining an exercise regime on a regular basis is difficult. However, you will always feel more relaxed and happier after physical activity. Regular exercise will also make you feel better about your appearance, increasing your pride and self-worth.
The production of endorphins during aerobic exercise is one hypothesis that has been proposed. It also speeds the heartbeat, which produces norepinephrine, a neurotransmitter that helps the brain cope with stress better.
Additionally, exercise helps to increase blood flow to the brain. Your entire cellular system is thus affected, from enhancing focus to controlling sleep to eventually elevating your mood.
Natural chiropractic care works hand in hand with regular exercise to keep your body functioning at optimal levels. That is why chiropractic treatment isn’t just for people in pain. People looking to reach optimal physical performance and a healthy lifestyle can also reap the rewards of visiting a chiro.
Maintain a Healthy Heart
Regular exercise is an excellent approach to maintaining a healthy heart and lowering the chance of heart conditions. Just walking can lower the risk of stroke or other heart diseases when possible. If you are able to develop a walking or running routine, it will help in building heart and lung strength.
Boost Your Muscles and Bones’ Strength
Maintaining the health of your bones, ligaments, and muscles is also crucial. Many people searching for a local chiropractor Manukau, Papakura, or wider South Auckland based, often have such problems.
Exercise of moderate intensity reduces the rate of bone density loss. Osteoporotic fractures are a major medical issue, particularly in older people.
Strength training, running, brisk walking, and balanced physical activity are different forms of exercise. These activities can reduce the likelihood of accidents and fractures while simultaneously promoting bone strength and longevity. (Foster & Armstrong, 2018)
Lifting weights and other muscle-strengthening exercises can help you build or maintain muscle mass and strength. Elderly people whose muscle power and bulk deteriorate with age can benefit from any degree of such training. Naturally, understanding what your body can handle is key to avoiding injuries during any muscle-strengthening exercises. Chiropractic services particularly focused on aging successfully can help shape a routine that is right for you.
How Physical Activity Can Aid with Sleep
You tend to use up a lot of energy if you participate in strenuous physical exercise. It causes weariness, which shortens the amount of time it takes for you to fall asleep. The amount of time it takes to nod off after getting into bed and turning out the lights is called your “sleep latency.”
When you exercise regularly, you will likely find that you fall asleep as soon as you lie down. That means there’s a good chance you receive the recommended seven to eight hours of sleep each night. No more browsing through TikTok videos for an hour or two every night!
The quantity of slow-pattern sleep you receive is increased by even moderate aerobic activity. Deep sleep, during which the body and brain have had a chance to regenerate, is referred to as slow-wave sleep. These are the periods of sleep that are the most restorative. It is less likely that you will wake up due to an interruption while you are in these phases of slow-wave sleep.
In simple terms, you’ll get into a deeper state of sleep that gives you plenty of energy to tackle the next day head-on.
Strategies For Increasing Physical Activity
Pick out activities you can engage in regularly while still finding them enjoyable. It is possible to include physical activity into one’s daily routine easily. This includes things as simple as walking for ten minutes to and from the carpark, bus stop, or train station.
You can also enroll in a fitness class. Make sure it does not get boring by switching things up every other day. The most important thing is to be active for most days of the week and include physical activity in your daily routine. Think of partnering up with someone else. The idea of letting someone else down will make it much harder to bail and fall back into bad routines.
Incorporate periods of physical exercise at work as well as at home. You can reinforce the habit by setting a timer as a reminder to get up at least once every hour.
Why do you want to be more active?
To feel good, get more rest, have more energy, be more robust, or develop muscle tone and flexibility.
Pick an activity that you like.
Variety is essential; switch to another if you become tired of one activity.
Set objectives and track your progress.
Set achievable goals. Use a notebook or an online tool to record your progress. You can monitor your steps using your smartphone nowadays. Enjoy the work and proceed slowly.
Stop bashing yourself.
Everybody has off days when they might not complete all of the activities. Move on and resume your routine the next day.
Indulge yourself.
Reward yourself—preferably a healthy one—when you reach milestones or complete stages toward a goal.
Partner Up
To make it more fun and motivating, go walking or jogging with friends, or family. A group or online community can help you keep track of your development.
Goal Or Suggestion
Conclusion
The advantages of engaging in physical activity have received a lot of attention and are widely known. The majority of individuals still do not exercise for the minimum suggested amount of 150 minutes per week. Even though it is widely recognised that physical activity is an inexpensive alternative to the treatment and prevention of disease.
The prevention of a range of long-term illnesses, a reduction in the risk of premature mortality, and an overall improvement in health can all be attained by regular physical activity.
The level of physical activity and health state are related to each other. Individuals who engage in physical activity have lower risks of health issues.
And remember, we’re not just an ACC chiropractor that you visit after an injury only. Papakura Chiropractic is here to support health improvement and minimise the risk of premature problems.
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