We all know exercise is good for our bodies, but what happens internally when we get our hearts pumping? How about when we stop exercising regularly? How does it affect our mood?
Recommending Regular Exercise
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), medical professionals, physiotherapists, personal trainers, naturopaths and nutritionists can at least agree on one thing: exercise is important for the human body.
The CDC says that regular exercise is an important aspect in maintaining your health. This becomes especially important during times like a world-wide pandemic (COVID-19) when there are fewer opportunities to take classes or attend gyms.
They list two main types of benefits, immediate and long-term. In the first category one might find they are sleeping better, have reduced anxiety and lowered blood pressure. For the long-term, which is a goal to strive toward, there is brain health, cancer prevention, bone strength, balance and coordination, heart health and weight management.
It’s also beginning to surface in research that regular exercise assists with boosting the human immune system.
Immediate Benefits
As previously mentioned, you can see and feel immediate benefits to exercise. If you’re diabetic, you might find it helps you with the conditions as exercising uses glucose for energy. Insulin is created inside the body as a means of controlling that glucose. That means it helps to regulate the sugars in the human body.
Your metabolism also increased when you exercise and it begins within a few minutes of your workout. Essentially, when your heart rate goes up your body releases neurochemicals that help with your metabolism speed, which is caused by the increase of circulation. This power house of a body will continue helping your metabolism even after you’re done exercising.
You’re also going to gain more energy the more you exercise. Yes, that sounds opposite of how you might feel in the moment. It’s because of the increase of blood flow. When you get more oxygen and nutrients pumping through the body it’s more likely to leave you alert throughout the day.