There are so many lists of exercise benefits out there. Some focus on disease prevention while others focus on physical or mental aspects. I've composed a list containing so many benefits that you will never ever need another benefits list, ever again!
Anti-Aging Benefits
Exercise not only slows the aging process and fights off the illnesses that come with it, but it also makes you look a lot younger than you are and gives you the kind of energy and resilience that some youngsters don't even have. Don't believe me? Check out
the studies that prove how exercise fights the aging process.
Exercise keeps you young by:
1. Preventing illness and diseases like cancer, obesity, and heart and organ failure. Refer to the link above.
2. Keeps you mentally capable (read link above to see how exercise increases the amount of neurons in your brain).
3. Increases physical ability and increases energy leaves.
4. Teaches and reinforces your body's ability to bounce back (physical resilience).
Benefits of Sweating and Increased Body Temperature
Sweating is extremely good for you. It detoxifies the body, is good for your skin and decreases water retention.
Read more about how sweating makes you healthier.
Indirect benefits of exercise by way of sweating:
5. Detoxifies your body of toxins and other impurities. Up to 30% of bodily toxins can be released from sweat.
6. Increases kidney and liver function, since sweating reduces the load of toxins that your filtration systems have to deal with.
7. Exercise benefits your skin as it opens up pores; allowing nutrients to reach the skin and waste products to be eliminated. Sweating can add radiance to skin.
8. It decreases water retention. Sweating allows your body to get rid of excess water under the skin.
9. Increased body temperature creates an environment where many kinds of germs cannot survive, killing them off. This is why your body gets so hot during a fever: to kill off the germs in your body.
10. The increased body temperature also increases your body's white blood cells. These cells fight off infection and disease.
11. Increased body temperature opens up your blood vessels and tissues; and increases blood flow. This allows for easier flowing of nutrients, better communications throughout your body and elimination of all the bad stuff.
Physical Benefits of Exercise
Oxford Academy has a very interesting article about the wonderful relationship between exercise and aging. This compilation of so many accredited studies lists so many physical benefits of exercise.
Physical Benefits of Exercise
12. Exercise increases aerobic capacity: the ability for your body to physically perform for longer periods of time without getting tired.
13. It also decreases heart rate and blood pressure when you exert yourself. You will do things with less effort and your body will not need as much time, energy or nutrients to recover.
14. Exercise increases tissue elasticity. You will have a greater range of motion, your muscles will be able to move and stretch more and your other tissues will stay almost as elastic as they were when you were younger.
15. Your muscular endurance, strength and power will improve. You will be physically stronger than what you would be if you did not exercise regularly.
16. Motor coordination improves. You will have a better mind-to-body connection and have better mental control over your body.
17. Neural reaction time will get shorter. You will be able to react quicker and won't have to think too much before making complicated movements.
18. Enzyme capacity and mitochondrial volume increases, meaning that your body will become better at making energy more efficiently.
19. Walk speed, cadence, stability and step length will increase. You will have an easier time getting around wherever you go and this benefit will continue long into old age.
20. Resting heart rate decreases. This means that when you are not being physically active, your body will be less stressed and will require less energy to function. Expending energy during exercise makes you need less energy to survive.
21. Maximal cardiac output increases, so that your heart is able to do more for your body and is stronger at getting blood where it needs to be.
22. Endothelial reactivity increases. The inner lining of blood vessels can expand and contract more easily.
23. Muscle blood flow increases. This makes your muscles healthier and more efficient, since they can receive nutrients and expel waste products better.
24. Capillary density increases. Your lungs will be able to take in more oxygen and release more carbon dioxide with every breath you take.
25. Vascular insulin sensitivity increases. You can turn sugar into glycogen (energy stored in muscle) better, so your blood won't have too much sugar and your body will have the energy it needs for longer periods of time.
26. Plasma volume increases. Plasma is the liquid that carries blood cells. With more blood plasma, your blood has more space to perform its functions.
27. Total energy expenditure increases. Fat is burned and the body learns to work more efficiently at almost all bodily functions.
28. Thermionic effects of meals increase. This means that your body will spend more energy in processing food to make sure that it is used and processed in the best way it can.
29. Total body water increases. Your body accumulates water in the right places so that you are better hydrated and can function better.
30. Potassium, nitrogen and calcium levels are raised in your body. This ensures even further stability and order in everyday bodily processes.
31. Protein synthesis rate and amino acid uptake into muscles increase. Nitrogen retention and protein turnover also rises. This ensures that your body becomes better at rebuilding and maintaining itself.
32. Gastrointestinal transit time increases. Your body takes more time to absorb precious nutrients from food instead of letting good nutrients go. Also, these nutrients are stored properly and not entirely converted into fat.
33. Glycogen storage capacity increases, allowing muscles to store more energy and take more sugar out of the blood stream.
34. Bad cholesterol levels decrease.
35. Good cholesterol levels are raised and protected.
36. Hormonal and sympathetic nervous system responses to stress stimuli are decreased. You will be able to handle stress better, with less negative consequences.
Emotional Benefits of Exercise
Science Direct has a study on
regular exercise, anxiety, depression and personality.
It found that regular physical exertion was both the cause
and result of improved extroversion and sensation seeking personalities. It
also found that physical activity lowered feelings of neuroticism, anxiety and depression.
37. People who exercise regularly are more outgoing than people who don't.
38. They also have less difficulty with directing attention to things other than themselves without feeling alienated.
39. Introverts who exercise regularly are better able to cope with situations where they have to perform extroverted activities.
40. These people are more able to explore environments that they are not familiar with and can function as working parts of environments that they are not in total control of (this is also true for forms of exercise that does not incorporate teams sports elements).
41. Exercise boosts your confidence, both in the short and long term.
42. Exercise makes people feel happier immediately after the activity. The feeling of happiness carries over into the rest of daily life.
43. It also makes people feel a sense of accomplishment. This is a very important feeling according to
Psychology Today.
44. Self-esteem increases with exercise.
45. People who partake in manual exertion handle situations that are difficult better than people who don't.
46. Surprisingly, people who train more often are less selfish than people who don't, on average.
47. Exercise increases feelings of self-worth and decreases the need to inflate self-importance onto others.
48. The fitter people are, the better they are (on average) at interacting with other people. This includes people that they don't know.
50. Exercise immediately lowered feelings of anxiety.
51. Long-term workouts decrease susceptibility to anxiety in the first place.
52. Exercise is rated as one the best ways to deal with depression.
53. It lowered the likelihood for people to by moody. It significantly lowers feelings of anger and aggression.
54. People who work out more often also worry less and are not as susceptible to fear, compared to people who do not exercise.
55. They also show higher levels of tolerance before experiencing feelings of frustration.
56. Physical activity lowered the negative effects and onset of guilt.
57. People who were more active reported less feelings of loneliness.
58. They also have a far lower vulnerability or tendency towards negative and addictive behaviors.
59. Exercise has been successfully used as a successful treatment of addictive recovery.
60. Eating disorders prevailed less within communities who were more active. These disorders were also more controllable in patients who started new exercise regimes.
61. The more a person exercises, the more likely that that person will engage in other healthy habits. This includes following the right diet, self-improvement and following balanced lifestyles. People are more able to successfully follow a healthy eating plan when it is coupled with a good exercise routine.
62. People who are physically fit report having more zest for life and are more positive towards life in general.
63. The more often people did activities that involved a level of physical exertion, the less they complained about a variety of issues.
Financial, Career, Academic and Learning Benefits
64. Exercise increases learning ability and memory, allowing people to learn at faster rates.
65. Since physical activity provides blood flow to the brain and a healthy distraction during periods of learning, it is the perfect way to store information that is learned and log it into cognitive memory. This allows for more information which is learned to be stored and less information to be lost or forgotten.
66. People who work out more often get sick less and take less sick days off from work.
67. They also have more energy at work and are more productive.
68. They therefore get promoted more often and climb their respective career ladders faster than their counterparts who don't exercise.
69. These people also showed more positivity towards the line of work that they were involved in.
Mental Benefits of Physical Activity
A study at
www.karger.com investigates the connection between mental health and exercise. If finds multiple mental benefits and suggests reasons why exertion improves brain function.
70. Exercise can be effectively used to assist treatment for neuropsychiatric disorders, which affect the brain and nervous system. Since it assists with treatment, it plays a role in prevention.
71. It helps to relieve symptoms of cognitive impairment.
72. It helps to delay the onset of neurodegenerative processes.
73. Physical movement reduces the harmful effects of stresses that could negatively affect the brain.
74. Exercise triggers neurotransmitter release, increasing the flowing of brain movement and activity.
75. Exercise can be neurotrophic, allowing for neurogenesis (growth of nervous tissue).
76. It increases cerebral blood flow, or blood flow within the brain.
77. Exercise protects the brain from the effects of aging and degeneration, and ensures successful brain function.
78. Inactivity is the biggest risk factor for many diseases that affect the brain and other important organs.
79. Exercise can delay and soften the effects of Alzheimer's disease, improving quality of life.
80. Since physical activity is closely related to survival, it teaches the body to 'survive' for longer than those who lead sedentary lives.
81. Brain plasticity increases with exercise. Plasticity refers to the brains ability to change and reorganize itself as it needs to.
82. There is an inverse relationship between exercise and depression in the elderly. On average, one in five elderly people are depressed.
83. Studies show a strong link between physical exertion and the reduced onset of dementia.
84. It reduces the effects of dementia for people who already have it.
85. Half an hour of exercise a day greatly decreased the number of hospitalizations of patients with Alzheimer's disease.
86. It also significantly improved the mood of patients with Alzheimer's disease.
87. Exercise has shown a protective effect against Parkinson's disease.
88. It also reduced the symptoms of Parkinson's in patients who already had the disease.
Social Benefits
www.livestrong.com has an interesting article about how regular physical activity improves your social performance.
89. Exercise improves confidence, makes you feel better, improves self-esteem and reduces anxiety. These effects make you more able to approach others and start new friendships.
90. These effects also improve your ability to be honest and reach out to people when you need to. You will therefore be less limited by your own inhibitions when it comes to communicating with other people.
91. Exercising frequently at the gym at the same time increases the chances of you getting to know the people who gym at the same time and place. See
how to makes friends at the gym.
92. Physical activity that involves team sports teach participants to work as part of a group and interact with other people.
93. You will be less prone to negative feelings that often prohibit you from interacting with others, even if the exercise you do is not as social as other forms.
94. It also gives you something to have in common with other people and opens you up to many communities and groups that do the same activity.
Superficial Benefits of Exercise
95. You will look more attractive since your body is healthier.
96. Posture improves and the way you hold yourself will look better. This will make you look more like the kind of person people want to be associated with.
97. Body fat will drop.
98. Strength exercises will tone your body and add muscle to your frame.
99. Your skin will look more radiant and you will have less wrinkles, pimples and black heads.
100. Body language: since you will be happier and more confident, the subconscious signals you give out will resonate with people before you even speak.
101. You will be able to wear the clothes you want to wear and will be more concerned with finding clothes that show off your body instead of finding items that hide your body.
102. Better overall health will result in hair, skin and nails looking healthier with less care needed.
103. You will look younger than what you actually are as you age.
104. Improved blood flow leads to better complexion.
105. Eyes will be less puffy and won't look as tired. Instead, they will look brighter, wither and exude more energy.
106. Exercise improves sleep and therefore recovery and regeneration. 'Beauty sleep' will have a much bigger impact on actual beauty.
107. Exercise reduces the risk of gum disease, tooth decay and discoloration by strengthening the immune system. This may also be an indirect effect, since exercise often prompts better dietary and hygiene habits.
Did I miss out on any benefits? Let me know in the comments below. STAY STRONG!
