There are over 100 different benefits of exercise. Today I will be going through just a few of them.

Reduces your mental stress:

When you exercise it increases the rate at which your brain fires serotonin neurons, which are responsible for the synthesis and production of the serotonin hormone. This is your happy hormone, improving your mood.

It also triggers the dopamine receptors in your brain releasing the dopamine hormone, which is your feel-good hormone.

Your endorphins are also released through exercise, which also make you feel good.

These hormones collectively then reduce the level of cortisol and adrenaline your body releases, your body’s stress hormones.

As a result, exercise is often referred to as the ‘natural anti-depressant’.

Increases your metabolism:

When you exercise, you burn fat and glycogen stored in the cells. Breaking down these energy stores is the process which we know as your metabolism.

You are burning energy throughout the day even when you are not exercising. This occurs as your body needs fat and glycogen as energy to perform the basic functions of survival such as beating the heart, helping the lungs respire, your organs to their jobs, create hormones etc. etc. This occurs at a much slower rate than burning energy during exercise.

Not only does this process speed up during exercise but it continues long after you stop exercising. In fact can speed up for as long as 72 hours after exercise.

So if you exercise every day or every second day, your metabolism will be constantly working at a higher rate. This helps reduce adipose tissue, or stored fat and improves detoxification.

Simple activities that can replicate the benefits of exercise:

You don’t always have to go hard or go home all the time. You can experience the same benefits as you do with exercise, with other simple activity.

As we said earlier, your body is burning energy around the clock, even when you sleep. Basic movement and activity can speed the process up, such as walking, vacuuming, sweeping, laughing, stretching and much, much more. Basically, anything that requires you to move. Even turning in your sleep.

Not only do these activities increase your energy expenditure, your metabolism, but they all movement, also increases the thermogenic effect.

That simply means they increase the temperature of your body. This can be dangerous if your body temperature gets too high, so your body burns more energy to cool your body down to a safe temperature.

Walking and your mood and spirit:

Besides the benefits to your metabolism and thermogenic effect, walking also boosts your mood, as it triggers the parasympathetic nervous system. This is the system that signals to your brain to relax. It is responsible for reducing your stress hormones and helping you feel calm and more relaxed. When you feel calm and relax, your spirits raise as does your mood.

Improves your sleep:

Let’s face it, we are all nicer people when we have had adequate sleep. Especially if it is good quality sleep.

When you exercise it reduces your cortisol, as well as regulating the secretion of this stress hormone throughout the day. As such it means it helps keep it lower around sleep time, to help you relax and unwind. This is why you tend to feel more tired when you exercise.

As a result, you sleep better! The better you sleep, the nicer person you are. Your mood improves, your metabolism improves, and your day gets brighter all round.

Social Connections:

By nature, we are social beings. If you include exercise in your routine that involves a team, or a group, or even just one other person, it increases our connectivity and therefore increases our spirits as social animals. That is why team sports, group fitness, and such like activities are so popular. They are far more motivating because of the social aspect.

Health and well-being:

We generally know that exercise is good for your health, improving your heart health, blood pressure, muscularity, reduces fat stores, improves bone density and more.

But the side effect of all of these health benefits is also exciting. When you feel better, move better and look better, it can help you feel more confident and content. These are huge contributors to your overall well-being.

Collectively these can reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety, improving quality of life.

Energy boost energy:

You may have heard of the saying ‘lethargy breeds lethargy’ and the same can be said about your energy levels. Just as being inactive leads to further inactivity, so too does energy lead to increased energy. The more you move, the more you want to move, to keep receiving all the rewards, the buzz.

The best thing you can do when you have the ‘CBF’s’ is get up and move. It will very quickly, snap you out of it!

Exercise is an excellent way to beat fatigue.

Anti-Aging Factors:

Who doesn’t love a good anti-aging effect?! Exercise increases your anti-oxidants, reducing the free radicals in your body. Free radicals warp cells, increasing the aging process. When you reduce free radicals, you improve cell form and function, slowing down and sometimes reversing, the aging process.

We measure our clients’ Basal Metabolic Age (BMA) using our in-body scanner, when we are able to have face to face contact. This tells us how old their body is at cellular level. A huge goal as a coach is to help your client reduce their BMA, as not only will this help them look and feel better, but it increases their life expectancy.

Can improve your relationship:

Ok here we get a little cheeky. Exercise improves the synthesis of all sex hormones, improving your libido. Often time couple struggle with feeling connected due to reduced libido. With the libido improved it can help couples feel more connected and improve their overall relationship.

Feel empowered:

Whether you are new to exercise or an athlete there is something very empowering about feeling strong and capable. Initially this may not be the case as you learn how to perform certain movements, which you might struggle with initially. But as you practice them you will find yourself getting better and better. Your coordination improves, your fitness, strength and overall ability. This increases your confidence and self-worth as you start to feel empowered.

Digestion:

If you have ever suffered with digestive issues, you will fully appreciate how miserable you feel when your digestion is playing up.

Exercise helps improves your digestion as it increases blood flow, increases detoxification, and speeds up your metabolism. Even if it doesn’t cure the problem, you will certainly feel a stack load better in your gut with exercise, than without!

Mobility, movement, and non-injury related pain:

Sedentary people often suffer with tight joints, tight muscles and aches and pains throughout their body, with no diagnosis of an injury to explain the pain.  This is caused by inactive or tight muscles, ligaments and tendons, that scream out when you finally move. That’s why during lock down, many people are experiencing lower back pain and neck pain, from the constant sitting, especially in front of a computer.

When you are in pain, you tend to feel stressed and miserable. It effects your mood, your ability to function properly and your overall quality of life.

Exercise prevents inactive muscles, and improves the elasticity in muscles, ligaments and tendons. It improves blood flow and therefore oxygen flow to the muscles. As a result you tend to feel better, have a brighter mood, and tend to think more clearly.

Conclusion:

I could go on and on about the benefits and the power of exercise and activity for your mind, body and spirit, but I think you get the drift.

It doesn’t have to be vigorous or strenuous. It could be simply maintaining 10,000 steps per day, getting a sit to stand desk, stretching every half hour, or anything else that gets you moving. Get active and reap the benefits, in and out of lock down.

• Coach Terri