Reasons to Exercise

Reasons to Exercise
Sure, we know we need to exercise for health, but what are
the real reasons to exercise?

Well, the list can be very long, but here are a few items
you may wish to consider.

Exercise will help with fat loss: Notice, I did NOT say,
"weight loss". You see, while weight can be a general
indicator of health and fitness, it isn't a perfect
indicator. People have different body types, for example,
and a physically fit, attractive, and perfectly healthy
person can weigh more than what the charts say they should.
It isn't necessarily what you weigh that's as important as
what that weight is comprised of. After all, at his peak
of health and fitness, Arnold Schwarzenegger was
"overweight" but had a very low level of fat on his body.

While some fat in and on the body is necessary to health
and proper functioning of various systems within the body,
it is excess fat which becomes the villain and which must
be gotten rid of. You exercise to do a lot of good things
for your body, and to burn fat is one of them.

YOU have heard that exercise burns calories, but, when done
properly, it will also burn fat. Burning calories is
important because excess calories is where fat comes from,
and when we burn the calories through physical activity,
they do not have a chance to be stored as fat.

People who are overweight are more likely to be susceptible
to a wide range of health difficulties.

Exercise can help prevent disease: It has been demonstated
through many studies that participating in regular physical
activity can help prevevent the occurence of many diseases
and degenerative conditions such as heart disease, cancer,
diabetes, stroke, high blood pressure, and depression.

These studies also show that a lack of exercise is often a
contributing risk factor in many of these diseases and
conditions. Sometimes, the effect of exercise is indirect
but still of importance. As mentioned above, exercising to
lose weight is a common goal, but often, a direct effect of
losing weight is improved health in many areas.

Exercise helps improve overall health: Well, if regular
exercise, combined with healthy eating and living
practices, can help combat disease and degenerative
conditions, isn't that a pretty big deal? If, in addition
to that, a regular program of physical activity can
indirectly produce positive health effects as well, such as
in the discussion on exercise and weight loss above, isn't
that even better? What more do you need to say about the
subject?

Of course, those are some great points, but when you
consider the overall positive effects of exercise on the
immune system, the muscular system, the bones, the
cardiovascular and cardiopulmonary systems, you can see
that the value of regular moderate exercise can be even
greater than originally anticipated. The person who
exercises regularly CAN, in most cases, expect a more
effective immune system to combat ill-health in many forms,
stronger bones (an effect that can carry over into the
senior years), a stronger, healthier heart and lungs,
which, in turn, will make life easier and healthier.

Oh yes, don't forget the stronger muscles which will be
available to carry that healthy body around!

Exercise can improve your mental state: You may have heard
of "runner's high", that euphoric feeling that those who
exercise regularly become familiar with. It's not just a
state of mind! It is actually a result of the active body
manufacturing, releasing, and/or activating "feel good"
chemicals. Not only will the body and brain be exposed to
natural, internal products such as endorphins and seratonin
DURING the exercise period, but levels will commonly remain
elevated in the regular exerciser.

Exercise to relieve depression has long been a standard in
the arsenal of phychological health. Exercise and stress
(which can be involved in a myriad of health problems) is a
much studied area, and the verdict is in. Exercise can
help improve not only depression and stress, but can even
elevate the ability of the brain to function as it goes
about its daily tasks, including regulating the processes
of the body, and as it attempts to solve problems, learn
new tasks, and make sense of the vast amount of data the
moder person is exposed to.

While on the subject of how you feel, let's touch briefly
on "how you feel about yourself".

When you take positive steps to improve yourself, you feel
better...and better about yourself. As your body becomes
leaner, trimmer, more effective, you feel better...and
better about yourself. As you become stronger, healthier,
and more full of the joy of living, you feel better...and
better about yourself. Feelings such as these cannot help
but be radiated out towards those around you, and be
reflected back at you, making you feel better...and better
about yourself!

Having said all that, it comes as no surprise that....

Exercise improves your ability to function socially: Not
only will you feel better, look better, be healthier, and
have a better self image and improved self confidence, but
you will actually be better able to perform socially.
Whether you want to learn to do ballroom dancing, ice
skating, or simply stand face-to-face with someone who once
would have overwhelmed you with THEIR presence, you will be
better able to stand your ground. You will know that you
are better prepared mentally and physically to meet the
rigors of life, love (and sex), work, and play...and enjoy
it!

Exercise does not have to be hard...at least at first. It
is something that you get more out of the more you put in.
However, at first, if you have not been exercising, any
small change to get started is literally a step in the
right direction. Oh, eventually you will probably need
some good shoes, a set of barbells, a yoga mat, or a
professional fitness trainer, but at the start, you will
just need the knowledge of what regular exercise can do for
you, and the willingness to get started and stay with it.

Maybe the reasons to exercise I have outlined above will
help.

----------------------------------------------------
Donovan Baldwin is a freelance writer currently living in
central Texas. He is a University of West Florida alumnus,
a member of Mensa, and is retired from the U. S. Army after
21 years of service. He has published many of his articles
on diet and weightloss at
http://nodiet4me.com/articledirectory .