Health benefits

Physical activity is one of the most important things you can do for your health. Being physically active can improve your brain health, help manage weight, reduce the risk of disease, strengthen bones and muscles, and improve your ability to do everyday activities. Regular exercise makes the heart stronger and the lungs fitter, enabling the cardiovascular system to deliver more oxygen to the body with every heartbeat and the pulmonary system to increase the maximum amount of oxygen that the lungs can take in.

Exercise reduces LDL cholesterol (the type that clogs your arteries), increases HDL (the good cholesterol) and reduces blood pressure so it lowers the stress on your heart. Added to this, it also strengthens your heart muscle. Combined with a healthy diet, exercise lowers the risk of developing coronary heart disease.

Exercise improves your body’s ability to pump the oxygen and nutrients around your body that are required to fuel the cells that fight bacteria and viruses.

Exercise makes muscles stronger, allowing people to do tasks that they otherwise might not be able to do or to do them more easily. Every physical task requires muscle strength and some degree of range of motion in joints. Regular exercise can improve both of these qualities.

Exercise stretches muscles and joints, which in turn can increase flexibility and help prevent injuries. Exercise may also improve balance by increasing strength of the tissues around joints and throughout the body, thus helping to prevent falls. Weight-bearing exercise, such as brisk walking and weight training, strengthens bones and helps prevent osteoporosis. Exercise often can improve function and reduce pain in people with osteoarthritis, although regimens must be developed specifically for each person, and exercises that put undue strain on joints, such as jumping and running, may need to be avoided.

Did You Know...

Most frail, older people benefit from exercise at least as much as younger people.

Exercise increases the body’s level of endorphins, chemicals in the brain that reduce pain and induce a sense of well-being. Thus, exercise can help improve mood and energy levels and may even help relieve depression. Exercise may also help boost self-esteem by improving a person’s overall health and appearance.

In addition to its other benefits, regular exercise helps older people remain independent by improving functional ability and by preventing falls and fractures (see Exercise in Older Adults). It can strengthen the muscles of even the frailest older person living in a nursing or retirement home. It tends to increase appetite, reduce constipation, and promote quality sleep.

The benefits of exercise begin to diminish within weeks after a person stops exercising. Heart strength, muscle strength, and the level of HDL cholesterol decrease, whereas blood pressure and body fat increase. Even former athletes who stop exercising do not retain measurable long-term benefits. However, people who were physically active in the past often can regain fitness faster as a result of not being sedentary.

Other reasons for exercise includes;

for general health and well-being, doctors may prescribe specific exercise plans in some situations. Before elective surgery, doctors may recommend people participate in exercise routines to enhance their recovery from surgery. Doctors also prescribe specific exercise programs to rehabilitate people after serious injuries or disorders such as heart attacks, strokes, major surgery, or injury (see Overview of Rehabilitation).

Everyone can experience the health benefits of physical activity, age, abilities, ethnicity, shape, or size do not matter.15 minutes out of your 24 hours matters, take a step today -join a fitness team, do some work out or walking before daily activities or some aerobics.